A federal appeals court has handed a legal victory to churches, synagogues and other religious organizations challenging the Trump administration’s decision to permit immigration enforcement operations at places of worship.
In a 2-1 ruling issued Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed a lower court’s decision rejecting the religious groups’ request for a preliminary injunction. The case now returns to the district court for further review.
The legal dispute centers on the administration’s removal of federal guidelines that previously limited immigration enforcement at locations considered sensitive, including religious institutions and schools.
Judge Florence Y. Pan, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, authored the majority opinion, finding that the religious organizations had demonstrated sufficient grounds to pursue their legal challenge. Their lawsuit raises constitutional and statutory claims under the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.
“Plaintiffs’ members likely face imminent harm from increased enforcement at their houses of worship; that harm is traceable to the new enforcement policy; and the relief requested will likely redress their injury, at least in part,” Pan wrote.
Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee who dissented from the majority, questioned whether the religious organizations had established a sufficient connection between the revised policy and the injuries they alleged. She argued that returning to the earlier guidelines would not necessarily prevent immigration operations or reverse declines in religious service attendance.
“It is purely speculative that returning to the policies set forth in the Mayorkas Memo will either reduce enforcement activity near plaintiffs’ places of worship or reverse attendance declines at those places,” Rao wrote.
The controversy began in January 2025, when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) eliminated restrictions governing immigration enforcement at sensitive locations. Those protections were initially established during the Obama administration in 2011 and subsequently broadened under the Biden administration in 2021.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense,” DHS stated at the time.
In response to the policy change, a coalition of 27 religious organizations representing multiple Christian denominations and Jewish communities initiated legal action seeking the restoration of the previous restrictions.
The plaintiffs include Mennonite Church USA, The Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Union for Reform Judaism and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, among other religious bodies.
Although the appeals court ruled in favor of the religious groups on the preliminary injunction appeal, the decision does not itself prohibit immigration enforcement at houses of worship. Instead, it directs the lower court to reconsider whether temporary restrictions should be imposed while the lawsuit proceeds.
