Quaker meetings sue DHS over directive to make arrests in 'sensitive' spaces
Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A coalition of five Quaker meetings is suing the Trump administration over its move last week to permit federal immigration authorities to make arrests in so-called sensitive spaces, which include places of worship.
Represented by nonprofit legal services group Democracy Forward, the Quaker meetings filed their lawsuit Monday, asking the U.S. District Court of the District of Maryland to block the Department of Homeland Security from executing a directive allowing federal immigration authorities to arrest suspected migrants in or near sensitive areas, such as schools, hospitals and churches.
"Welcoming and worshiping with all people, including immigrants, is a fundamental element of our religious exercise," Richmond Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said in a statement.
"The federal government's new policy is anathema to Quaker religious exercise, to all that we believe in and impinges on our ability to freely exercise."
The Department of Homeland Security, under President Donald Trump, issued a controversial directive last week to rescind a President Joe Biden-era policy barring law enforcement from making arrests in and near areas deemed sensitive, such as schools and churches.
Having run on a platform to mass deport migrants, Trump has used his first week in office to crack down on not only immigrant who enter the country illegally but those legally present as well. Most controversially was his executive order to end birthright citizenship.
Critics of the move have said allowing immigration enforcement in such places is an attack on immigrant communities, making space central to civil life feel unsafe.
In the lawsuit, the Quaker communities state the new directive is already having the intended effect of sowing fear within migrant-friendly congregations and goes against what their religious stands for.
"Allowing armed government agents wearing ICE-emblazoned jackets to park outside a religious service and monitor who enters or to interrupt the service and drag a congregant out during the middle of worship is anathema to Quaker religious exercise," the lawsuit states.
The threat of enforcement, the meetings state, will deter congregants from attending services, and losing congregants is "a substantial burden" on the Quakers' religious exercise.
The coalition alleges the new directive violates the First Amendment rights of association and other protections.
"Quakers believe that those with varied life experiences -- including immigrants -- can provide unique messages from God," they said. "Being able to receive those messages is fundamental to Quaker religious exercise."
The lawsuit names the DHS and its newly Senate-confirmed secretary, Kristi Noem, as defendants.
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