A network of Baptist churches headquartered in Georgia is suing the Department of Homeland Security over its decision to scrap a Biden-era policy that limited federal immigration arrests near so-called “sensitive locations,” such as churches, schools and hospitals.
The Decatur-based Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s lawsuit against the Trump administration was originally filed late last month in Maryland federal court by a group of Quaker congregations. The CBF joined the suit Tuesday.
The rollback of the “sensitive locations” policy took place immediately following President Donald Trump’s inauguration, as part of a wide-scale revision of immigration policy designed to crack down on legal and illegal immigration alike. “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” DHS said in a statement at the time.
Making schools and churches fair game for Immigration and Customs Enforcement sparked wide-scale concern among advocates — across the nation and in metro Atlanta, where an immigrant from Honduras was arrested outside of his church in Tucker. The lawsuit from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Quaker group appears to be the first from faith-based organizations challenging the policy reversal in court.
According to the Rev. Paul Baxley, executive coordinator at the CBF, the decision to allow ICE arrests in churches created an immediate chilling effect.
“Pastors were hearing from immigrants and refugees from different parts of the world that they were now frightened to come to church,” he said.
The lawsuit argues that deterring congregants from attending services undermines the guarantee of religious liberty.
“We see the revocation of the sensitive locations provisions as a deep infringement on the religious liberty of our congregations,” Baxley said.
Fear has also been keeping immigrant congregants from availing themselves of social services ranging from food distributions to English classes. For many vulnerable newcomers to the U.S., churches are an essential part of the social safety net.
“Participation in ESL classes declined dramatically in some places,” Baxley said, referring to English as a Second Language classes.
“The Tucker arrest focused concerns that were already being expressed, not just among Cooperative Baptists in metro Atlanta but all around our Fellowship,” he added. “We were no longer just involved in speculation.”
Launched in 1991 as a splinter group from the Southern Baptists, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship includes about 1,400 churches, most of them in the southeastern United States. Former President Jimmy Carter helped organize the creation of the denomination.
“If you look at our 35-year history, we have had a continuous commitment to ministry with immigrants and refugees as part of our mission. For us, that’s deeply rooted in our understanding of Scripture. Scripture teaches us that we are to show hospitality to strangers,” Baxley said.
“Jesus said: ‘I was a stranger, and you welcomed me,’” Baxley said. “So, if people are afraid to come to church for worship, that is a restraint on our congregation’s ability to live out their calling.”
According to the Fellowship, their participation in the lawsuit against DHS is not a partisan act and does not take a stance on other policy questions related to immigration.
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