A federal court dealt a blow to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda near houses of worship, allowing objecting religious groups to sue.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that religious organizations have standing to sue over the policy of allowing some immigration enforcement at churches and other religious institutions, in a case that could be on its way to the Supreme Court.
At issue was a Department of Homeland Security “Rescission Memo” issued on the first day of President Donald Trump’s second term. The memo removed the Biden administration’s limits on enforcement activities at sensitive locations, including churches, and instructed immigration officers to use their own discretion “along with a healthy dose of common sense.”
Plaintiffs “have demonstrated that under the Rescission Memo, their members face a ‘credible threat’ of enforcement that will likely cause imminent, if not immediate, injury,” the opinion by Judge Florence Pan says.
The 2-1 decision reversed a lower court ruling that found the plaintiffs’ claims of imminent harm insufficient to establish standing.
It did not decide on the merits and did not order the Biden administration’s policies to be reinstated, but it did allow the lawsuit to move forward. The lead plaintiff in the case was the Mennonite Church USA.
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Pan, a Joe Biden appointee, was joined by Judge Robert Wilkins, a Barack Obama appointee, in the majority. Judge Naomi Rao, a Trump appointee, dissented.
“Indeed, plaintiffs rely on far more than the ‘conventional background expectation that the government will enforce the law,’ which is all that is required. … Above and beyond that, plaintiffs have direct evidence that the government intends to increase immigration enforcement at sensitive locations—that is the whole point of the Rescission Memo.”
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