An immigration policy that allows searches of churches and schools is being challenged by Democracy Forward, which filed a lawsuit on behalf of a coalition of faith groups earlier this week.
Since 1993, the U.S. policy has been to avoid immigration operations at churches and schools and other “sensitive locations” to avoid discouraging people from attending them.
That policy changed this year when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security rescinded the protections and instead gave Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers discretionary power to decide whether to carry out enforcement actions at or near schools and other “sensitive locations.”
The lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi Noem argues the policy violates the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 and the Administrative Procedure Act, according to a Democracy Forward press release.
This story originally appeared in EdSource.