More than two-dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans — ranging from the Episcopal Church and the Union for Reform Judaism to the Mennonites and Unitarian Universalists — filed a federal court lawsuit Tuesday challenging a Trump administration move giving immigration agents more leeway to make arrests at houses of worship.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, contends that the new policy is spreading fear of raids, thus lowering attendance at worship services and other valuable church programs. The result, says the suit, infringes on the groups’ religious freedom — namely their ability to minister to migrants, including those in the United States illegally.
“We have immigrants, refugees, people who are documented and undocumented,” said the Most Rev. Sean Rowe, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.
“We cannot worship freely if some of us are living in fear,” he told The Associated Press. “By joining this lawsuit, we’re seeking the ability to gather and fully practice our faith, to follow Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as ourselves.”
The new lawsuit echoes and expands on some of the arguments made in a similar lawsuit filed Jan. 27 by five Quaker congregations and later joined by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and a Sikh temple. It is currently pending in U.S. District Court in Maryland.
Names as defendants in the new lawsuit are the Department of Homeland Security and its immigration enforcement agencies. The DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, offered this response via email: "We are protecting our schools, places of worship, and Americans who attend, by preventing criminal aliens and gang members from exploiting these locations and take safe haven there because these criminals knew that under the previous Administration that law enforcement couldn’t go inside."
“DHS’s directive gives our law enforcement the ability to do their jobs,” she added.
A memorandum filed Friday by the Department of Justice, opposing the thrust of the Quaker lawsuit, outlined further arguments that may also apply to the new lawsuit.
In essence, the memo contended that the plaintiffs’ request to block the new enforcement policy is based on speculation of hypothetical future harm — and thus is insufficient grounds for issuing an injunction.
The memo said that immigration enforcement affecting houses of worship had been permitted for decades, and the new policy announced in January simply said that field agents — using “common sense” and “discretion” — could now conduct such operations without pre-approval from a supervisor.
One part of that memo might not apply to the new lawsuit, as it argued the Quakers and their fellow plaintiffs have no basis for seeking a nationwide injunction against the revised enforcement policy.
“Any relief in this case should be tailored solely to the named plaintiffs,” said the DOJ memo, contending that any injunction should not apply to other religious organizations.
The plaintiffs in the new lawsuit represent a vastly larger swath of American worshippers — including more than 1 million followers of Reform Judaism, the estimated 1.5 million Episcopalians in 6,700 congregations nationwide, nearly 1.1 million members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the estimated 1.5 million active members of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church — one of the country’s oldest predominantly Black denominations.
Among the other plaintiffs are the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), with more than 3,000 congregations; the Church of the Brethren, with more than 780 congregations; the Convención Bautista Hispana de Texas, encompassing about 1,100 Hispanic Baptist churches; the Friends General Conference, an association of regional Quaker organizations; the Mennonite Church USA, with about 50,000 members; the Unitarian Universalist Association, with more than 1,000 congregations; the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, with more than 500 U.S. congregations; and regional branches of the United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ.
“The massive scale of the suit will be hard for them to ignore,” said Kelsi Corkran, a lawyer with the Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection who is lead counsel for the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs joined the suit, she said, “because their scripture, teaching, and traditions offer irrefutable unanimity on their religious obligation to embrace and serve the refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants in their midst without regard to documentation or legal status.”
Prior to the recent Trump administration change, Corkran said immigration agents generally needed a judicial warrant or other special authorization to conduct operations at houses of worship and other “sensitive locations" such as schools and hospitals.
“Now it’s go anywhere, any time,” she told the AP. “Now they have broad authority to swoop in — they’ve made it very clear they’ll get every undocumented person.”
She cited a recent incident in which a Honduran man was arrested outside his family’s Atlanta-area church while a service was being held inside.
The lawsuit includes details from some of the plaintiffs as to how their operations might be affected. The Union for Reform Judaism and the Mennonites, among others, said many of their synagogues and churches host on-site foodbanks, meal programs, homeless shelters and other support services for undocumented people who might now be fearful of participating.
One of the plaintiffs is the Latino Christian National Network, which seeks to bring together Latino leaders with different traditions and values to collaborate on pressing social issues. The network’s president is the Rev. Carlos Malavé, a pastor of two churches in Virginia, who described to the AP what network members are observing.
“There is deep-seated fear and distrust of our government,” he said. “People fear going to the store, they are avoiding going to church. ... The churches are increasingly doing online services because people fear for the well-being of their families.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which leads the nation's largest denomination, did not join the lawsuit, though it has criticized Trump's migration crackdown. On Tuesday, Pope Francis issued a major rebuke of the deportation plan, warning that the forceful removal of people purely because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity and “will end badly.”
Many conservative faith leaders and legal experts across the U.S. do not share concerns about the new arrest policy.
“Places of worship are for worship and are not sanctuaries for illegal activity or for harboring people engaged in illegal activity,” said Mat Staver, founder of the conservative Christian legal organization Liberty Counsel.
“Fugitives or criminals are not immune from the law merely because they enter a place of worship,” he said via email. “This is not a matter of religious freedom. There is no right to openly violate the law and disobey law enforcement.”
Professor Cathleen Kaveny, who teaches in the theology department and law school at Boston College, questioned whether the plaintiffs would prevail with the religious freedom argument, but suggested the Trump administration might be unwise to disregard a traditional view of houses of worship as places of sanctuary for vulnerable people.
“These buildings are different — almost like embassies,” she said. “I think of churches as belonging to an eternal country.”
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Jean-Michel Gisnel cries out while praying with other congregants at the First Haitian Evangelical Church of Springfield, Sunday, January 26, 2025, in Springfield, Ohio. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)
A congregant kneels in prayer at the Centro Cristiano El Pan de Vida, a mid-size Church of God of Prophecy congregation, in Kissimmee, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alan Youngblood)
Fatima Guzman prays during a church service at the Centro Cristiano El Pan de Vida, a mid-size Church of God of Prophecy congregation in Kissimmee, Florida, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Alan Youngblood)
Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, saying it was hitting Hamas targets in its heaviest assault in the territory since a ceasefire took effect in January.
The strikes killed more than 320 people, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the strikes because of a lack of progress in talks to extend the ceasefire. Officials said the operation was open-ended and was expected to expand. The White House said it had been consulted and voiced support for Israel’s actions.
Hamas warned that Israel’s new airstrikes breached their ceasefire and put the fate of hostages in jeopardy.
The surprise attack shattered a period of relative calm during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and raised the prospect of a full return to fighting in a 17-month war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused widespread destruction across Gaza.
Here's the latest:
The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres says he is “shocked” by the Israeli airstrikes in Gaza and has called for the ceasefire in Gaza to be respected.
Guterres, in a statement, called for humanitarian aid to resume for people in Gaza and for the hostages held by Hamas to be released unconditionally.
Freed British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari says her “heart is broken, crushed and disappointed” by the resumption of fighting in Gaza. In a story on Instagram shared by Israeli media, she said she would keep fighting for the remaining hostages.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli strikes across the territory have killed at least 326 people. The wave of strikes that began early Tuesday is among the deadliest since the start of the 17-month war.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called for the ceasefire to be maintained following Israel’s attack on Gaza.
“There’s already been enormous suffering there, which is why we’re calling upon all parties to respect the ceasefire and hostage deal that was put in place,” Albanese told reporters.
“We’ll continue to make representations. Australia will continue to stand up for peace and security in the region,” he added.
An Israeli airstrike flattened a prison run by the Hamas-led government in Gaza Strip, killing dozens of prisoners and policemen, according to hospital records.
The prison was located in the urban Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. Associated Press footage showed a collapsed building and people trying to reach bodies buried under the rubble.
The bodies of more than three dozen prisoners and guards were taken to the nearby Shifa hospital.
The Hamas-run government operates a police force that numbered in the tens of thousands before the war and quickly returned to the streets after a ceasefire took hold in January.
The Israeli military ordered people to evacuate eastern Gaza and move toward the center of the territory after Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes across the territory.
The orders issued Tuesday indicate Israel could launch renewed ground operations.
The Hamas-run Education Ministry in the Gaza Strip says classes have been suspended in dozens of schools that had recently reopened.
The decision came after Israel launched a wave of heavy airstrikes across Gaza early Tuesday, shattering a nearly two-month ceasefire.
Schools shut down across Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war, and most were converted to shelters for displaced people.
The ministry said it had resumed classes in around 70 schools in recent weeks.
A United Nations staffer in the Gaza Strip described a “very tough night” as Israel resumed heavy strikes across the territory after a nearly two-month ceasefire.
Rosalia Bollen, a communications specialist with the U.N. children’s agency, said she woke up around 2 a.m. on Tuesday to “very loud explosions.”
She said the UNICEF bass near the southern city of Rafah “was shaking very heavily.” When the strikes subsided, she heard “people yelling, people screaming and ambulances.”
“The bombardments have continued throughout the night,” though at a lower intensity than the initial barrage, she said. “The whole night, there’s been just the constant buzzing of drones and planes flying over.”
She said the strikes hit tents and structures housing displaced families. “We’re seeing, as of this morning, at least several dozen children killed,” she said.
The main group representing the families of hostages held in Gaza has slammed the decision to return to fighting, saying the move shows the government “chose to give up on the hostages.”
The Hostages Families Forum said “military pressure endangers hostages.” It asked the government in a post on X why it “backed out of the agreement” with Hamas that set out a release of all the living hostages in exchange for an end to the war.
“We are shocked, angry, and terrified by the deliberate dismantling of the process to return our loved ones from the terrible captivity of Hamas,” the group said.
A key governing partner of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the return to fighting in Gaza.
Bezalel Smotrich had threatened to leave the government if fighting did not resume, which would imperil Netanyahu’s rule. Critics said those political considerations were influencing Netanyahu’s wartime decision-making.
“We remained in the government for this moment despite our opposition to the (ceasefire) deal, and we are more determined than ever to complete the task and destroy Hamas,” Smotrich posted on X.
Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 235 people, according to local hospitals.
The toll from the strikes overnight and into Tuesday is based on records from seven hospitals and does not include bodies brought to other, smaller health centers.
Rescuers are still searching for dead and wounded.
North Korea has criticized the United States over its new campaign of airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The state-run KCNA news agency on Tuesday quoted Ma Tong Hui, North Korea’s ambassador to Egypt and concurrently to Yemen, as describing the attacks as a “wanton violation of all international laws including the U.N. Charter and it is an open encroachment upon the sovereignty of other nation that can never be justified.”
He also criticized “U.S. hooliganism.”
Trump during his first term held summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but the diplomacy collapsed over disagreements on US sanctions.
A senior Hamas official says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to launch widespread strikes on the Gaza Strip amounts to a “death sentence” for the remaining hostages held there.
In a statement early Tuesday, Izzat al-Risheq, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, accused Netanyahu of resuming the war to try and save his far-right governing coalition.
“Netanyahu’s decision to return to war is a decision to sacrifice the (Israeli) occupation’s captives and a death sentence against them,” he said.
He said Israel didn’t respect its commitments in the ceasefire deal reached in January and urged mediators to “reveal facts” on which side broke the agreement.
National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the militant group “could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war.”
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been leading mediation efforts along with Egypt and Qatar, had earlier warned that Hamas must release living hostages immediately “or pay a severe price.”
Israeli officials said the latest operation was open-ended and was expected to expand.
“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says the “Trump administration and the White House were consulted by the Israelis on their attacks in Gaza tonight.”
“As President Trump has made it clear, Hamas, the Houthis, Iran — all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel, but also the United States of America — will see a price to pay: All hell will break lose,” Leavitt continued, speaking to Fox News on Monday evening.
Leavitt is one of three administration officials who face a lawsuit from The Associated Press on First- and Fifth-Amendment grounds. The AP says the three are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose. The White House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
The bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli army airstrikes are brought to Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A body of a Palestinian killed in an Israeli army airstrikes is brought to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
The bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli army airstrikes are brought to Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A body of a Palestinian killed in an Israeli army airstrikes is brought to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A dead person killed during an Israeli army strike is taken into the hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday March 18, 2025.(AP Photo/ Mohammad Jahjouh)
Palestinians walk amid the rubble of destroyed homes and buildings in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip on Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians walk surrounded by the rubble of destroyed homes and building in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, Friday, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
