Sensitive Locations, Sacred Spaces

Across every faith tradition we are called to treat all with love, dignity, and respect. The sensitive locations memo was rescinded to target houses of worship because the administration knows they are places of welcome.

As part of its pledge to conduct mass deportations, the Trump administration rescinded a longstanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy that substantially restricts ICE agents from conducting immigration arrests in or near “sensitive locations” like hospitals, schools, and houses of worship. It is a policy that has been in place in various forms since the 90s and in its current form since 2011.

In doing so, houses of worship are targets specifically because of their religious beliefs to treat everyone with love, dignity, respect, and compassion- regardless of who they are or where they come from.

While we do not believe houses of worship or religious communities should be immune from laws or government oversight, we believe that at the heart of this decision to rescind the policy is the intent to target houses of worship because they are spaces of welcome and inclusion.

This is a dramatic and unnecessary infringement and a substantial burden on the religious freedom of millions of Americans without a compelling governmental interest.

As a person of faith, I call on the Trump administration to revoke its rescission of the memo and for Congress to pass legislation offering greater protection against immigration raids being carried out in or near to houses of worship and other sensitive locations.

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