Back in January 2025, the Department of Homeland Security put out a statement bragging that, under its new policy, “criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches.” It read like a tough-guy soundbite at the time. This month, a federal appeals court used that exact sentence as evidence against the government.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction blocking DHS agents from conducting immigration enforcement at or near more than 1,400 houses of worship across 33 states and Washington, D.C. Senior Judge Barbara Milano Keenan wrote that the policy had already caused a documented decline in worship attendance, placing “a substantial burden” on congregations’ ability to practice their religion — and that DHS’s own public statement showed the agency meant to target those buildings all along.
The ruling applies specifically to the Quaker, Sikh, and Baptist congregations who sued, and it requires DHS to fall back on the more restrictive 2021 policy that generally kept immigration agents out of churches, schools, and hospitals absent a warrant or an emergency. DHS, for its part, called the ruling “a false narrative to try and demonize our brave ICE law enforcement” — which is one way to respond to a court quoting your own press release back to you.
All of this actually happened. CT Mirror confirmed it.