Church leaders ask federal judge to punish Trump’s DOJ

On Thursday, religious groups asked a federal judge to hold Department of Justice officials in contempt for violating a court order barring immigration enforcement actions in houses of worship. According to Politico, the request comes after an undercover agent spying on a Minnesota church accidentally dropped a recording device that exposed their true identity. The coalition of church groups is comprised of five regional synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, three regional Quaker groups, American Baptist Churches USA, the Alliance of Baptists, and Metropolitan Community Churches, who, explains Politico, “say the undercover operation ran afoul of a February order by U.S. District Judge Dennis Saylor IV, who barred immigration enforcement activity in or near certain houses of worship.”

“According to a court filing, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was taking part in ‘boxing/sparring practice' as part of a martial arts session at University Baptist Church in Minneapolis in May when a ‘concealed body-worn audio recorder’ tumbled to the floor in the church gymnasium,” writes Politico. “The agent reported leaving the gym without immediately noticing the recorder was gone and returning about three minutes later to collect it.” Court records also show the agent’s investigation included surveilling the outside of the church and photographing vehicles in its parking lot.

This comes amidst growing tension between President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts and religious institutions. According to Politico, “In addition to the potential violation of a court order, the alleged incursion on a house of worship cuts against the administration’s message that any infringement on religious freedom — such as the anti-ICE protest that disrupted services in Minnesota — would be met with severe criminal consequences.” Earlier this year, the administration made a big show of bringing charges against former CNN host Don Lemon and others accused of disrupting church services under the FACE Act.

While government lawyers argue that Saylor’s order only prohibited immigration enforcement in churches and did not include criminal investigations, even if carried out by ICE, church attorneys “stress that the judge’s order barred operations aimed ‘in whole or in part’ at enforcing immigration laws. In addition, the full scope of the investigation that led to the dropped recorder incident remains unclear.”

According to Politico, “Saylor, a Boston-based George W. Bush appointee, isn’t the only judge to rule that ICE’s decision last year to relax restrictions on enforcement at churches threatened religious freedom. A federal judge in Maryland last year similarly concluded that ICE’s enforcement threats chilled religious liberty. That ruling was upheld on Tuesday by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. The motion filed Thursday asking Saylor to begin the contempt process sets up yet another clash between the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and the Border Patrol, and the federal courts.”

As evidence of this growing clash, Politico notes that “in recent weeks, DHS’ top lawyer, James Percival, has used his X account to pillory federal judges — including several of Saylor's colleagues, in Boston — for allegedly slow-walking immigration-related cases. One of those judges, Allison Burroughs, pushed back directly in a recent decision, accusing Percival — and DHS more broadly — of ‘shameful cruelty.’”