Churches say threat of ICE enforcement is violating their religious rights

[In It to Win It]

When anti-ICE protesters disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota last month, the Trump administration was unequivocal: interfering with “the right to pray in peace” would be met with severe consequences.

But across the country, advocates say the very government pledging to protect the right to worship — and prevent fear and intimidation — is in fact violating it at an epic scale.

The Trump administration has eliminated 30-year-old restrictions on ICE operations at or near churches, they note, and barred members of the clergy from providing “pastoral care” care to people held in temporary detention facilities. Religious organizations representing thousands of congregations of multiple faiths have sued over the policy changes, and some federal judges have ruled in their favor.

“The president said that religious freedom is important to him,” said Ingrid Rasmussen, the lead pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, referring to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union remarks. “But I can’t help wondering whether this administration believes that only some people should be afforded the ability to practice their faith and to receive visits from their trusted religious leaders.”

Some judges have found that the administration’s zeal for mass deportation has hampered religious rights not just of immigrants, but of congregations that welcome them. The legal fights center on the First Amendment’s right to worship freely as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which requires the government to use the “least restrictive” means possible whenever it encroaches on religious exercise.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/26/ice-immigration-churches-lawsuits-00802076

[Initech]

1. This hideous president is violating all of our rights.