Ellie Park, Multimedia Managing Editor

On April 11, a federal judge sided with the Trump administration against a lawsuit that would have given legal protection to houses of worship concerned about ICE entering their spaces. 

The lawsuit followed the Department of Homeland Security’s Jan. 20 rescission of a Biden-era guideline that protected schools, hospitals and congregations from federal immigration authorities. Twenty seven national and regional denominations signed on as plaintiffs, including the parent denominations for New Haven’s First Presbyterian Church, First and Summerfield United Methodist Church, and Congregation Mishkan Israel.

The decision by Federal Judge Dabney L. Freidrich stated that the plaintiffs have not “established a substantial likelihood” for Article III standing — a requirement in federal courts that ensures that only real cases, not hypotheticals, are heard and processed in a lawsuit. 

Plaintiffs would have to allege a genuine stake in the outcome of the lawsuit’s decision or prove a concrete injury. The plantiffs’ four alleged “injuries” were “imminent risk that immigration enforcement actions will be taken” at their congregations, “concrete declines in attendance at worship services,” “injury between openly welcoming all immigrants consistent with their religious obligations or restricting in-person services to protect immigrants from law enforcement,” and “the costs of increased security measures that congregations have taken to protect their members.” According to Freidrich, none of these injuries would establish Article III standing.

“The judge didn’t feel that it would impact participation in religious churches,” said Glen Formica, a New Haven attorney. Although this was a preliminary injunction by the judge or a “glance” at the case, Formica explained, he is hopeful that the case won’t get shut down. 

Formica said that he thinks the plaintiffs will be successful because of past religious freedoms arguments that have succeeded. According to Formica, conservative churches have brought lawsuits in the past to protect things like the right to deny contraceptives.

Formica said the Trump administration is “opening a fire hydrant” in allowing ICE officials into previously protected spaces. In 2017, one man spent 1,330 days in the protected sanctuary of First and Summerfield United Methodist Church in New Haven. 

Gini King DIV ’84, a retired pastor and activist in the sanctuary church movement, said that going forward, she hopes to educate congregations about precautions they can take if ICE enters their sanctuaries. 

“Go out with your phone and take pictures. Be very specific and try to get the face of the ICE person and the actions that they’re doing so it’s public,” she said. King thinks community vigilance can make a difference in protecting immigrants targeted by ICE.

Rabbi Herb Brockman, an activist and rabbi emeritus of Hamden’s Congregation Mishkan Israel, expressed doubt about the lawsuit’s future. He said sanctuary is just a “tool in a toolbox” and that he’s not sure whether the plaintiffs’ argument will merit protection from ICE officials. 

King thinks that lawsuits will “continue to come.” She said churches must be prepared to be vigilant and ask ICE officials for a warrant from a federal judge if they attempt to enter their houses of worship. 

The precedent for barring federal immigration authorities from entering houses of worship comes from the 2011 Department of Homeland Security memorandum of understanding, which prohibits authorities from entering “sensitive locations.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, was created in 2003.