By Chris Menahan – Information Liberation
Illegal aliens must be allowed to dodge immigration raids by hiding in “houses of worship” to avoid arrest, according to a ridiculous new ruling from US District Judge Theodore Chuang.
A federal judge issued an order Monday preventing President Donald Trump’s administration from carrying out immigration enforcement actions at places of worship.
In a 59-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Theodore [Chuang] agreed with a coalition of Sikhs, Quakers, and Baptists that immigration raids at their respective houses of worship would violate their religious liberties.
The legal group Democracy Forward filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of the above plaintiffs over a recently rescinded agency order that allowed federal agents to “indiscriminately” target migrants in violation of “religious freedom and expression rights.”
[Chuang] ruled:Armed law enforcement officers operating in or at places of worship pursuant to the 2025 policy will adversely affect the ability of Quakers and Sikhs to follow their religious beliefs or worship freely.
And given that each of Plaintiffs has religious beliefs that cause them to welcome and serve immigrants, has significant immigrant membership or operates in communities with significant immigrant populations, and has not disavowed that they will continue to serve immigrants both with and without legal status, it is reasonable to expect that DHS will direct immigration enforcement toward Plaintiffs specifically.
The judge added that although the plaintiffs each had different religious views, all were in agreement that being welcoming of immigrants was a “central precept of their faith practices.”
Would this same logic apply to tax evasion? Grand larceny? Murder?
This ruling is ludicrous and is going to be overturned but it just goes to show how these open borders activists will just say anything to advance their own interests.
The original order that was rescinded was a memo the Biden administration issued in 2021 which said ICE must not enforce the law in “sensitive” areas like schools and churches.
Trump’s DHS rescinded the memo in January, writing: “This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens—including murders and rapists—who have illegally come into our country. Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest.”
The Biden administration can just make this crap up in defiance of the law and all common sense but Trump can’t just throw it out.
There’s a thread on X that went viral in the wake of this ruling claiming that Chuang’s wife is also an open borders activist who was the former Vice President of National Immigration Forum.