{"id":5094,"date":"2026-08-20T19:07:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T19:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=5094"},"modified":"2026-08-20T19:07:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T19:07:37","slug":"church-leaders-ask-federal-judge-to-punish-trumps-doj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=5094","title":{"rendered":"Church leaders ask federal judge to punish Trump\u2019s DOJ"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

On Thursday, religious groups asked a federal judge to hold Department of Justice officials in contempt for violating a court order barring immigration enforcement actions in houses of worship. According to Politico<\/u>, the request comes after an undercover agent spying on a Minnesota church accidentally dropped a recording device that exposed their true identity. The coalition of church groups is comprised of five regional synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, three regional Quaker groups, American Baptist Churches USA, the Alliance of Baptists, and Metropolitan Community Churches, who, explains Politico, \u201csay the undercover operation ran afoul of a by U.S. District Judge Dennis Saylor IV, who barred immigration enforcement activity in or near certain houses of worship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s loyalist prosecutors keep going down in flames<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to , an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was taking part in \u2018boxing\/sparring practice’ as part of a martial arts session at University Baptist Church in Minneapolis in May when a \u2018concealed body-worn audio recorder\u2019 tumbled to the floor in the church gymnasium,\u201d writes Politico. \u201cThe agent reported leaving the gym without immediately noticing the recorder was gone and returning about three minutes later to collect it.\u201d Court records also show the agent\u2019s investigation included surveilling the outside of the church and photographing vehicles in its parking lot. <\/p>\n

This comes amidst growing tension between President Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation efforts and religious institutions. According to Politico, \u201cIn addition to the potential violation of a court order, the alleged incursion on a house of worship cuts against the administration\u2019s message that any infringement on religious freedom \u2014 such as the anti-ICE protest that disrupted services in Minnesota \u2014 would be met with severe criminal consequences.\u201d Earlier this year, the administration made a big show of bringing charges against former CNN host Don Lemon<\/u> and others accused of disrupting church services under the FACE Act.<\/p>\n

While government lawyers argue that Saylor\u2019s order only prohibited immigration enforcement in churches and did not include criminal investigations, even if carried out by ICE, church attorneys \u201cstress that the judge\u2019s order barred operations aimed \u2018in whole or in part\u2019 at enforcing immigration laws. In addition, the full scope of the investigation that led to the dropped recorder incident remains unclear.\u201d <\/p>\n

Read more \u2018No plan\u2019: GOP insiders fear Trump\u2019s \u2018bungled\u2019 strategy undermines US power<\/a><\/p>\n

According to Politico, \u201cSaylor, a Boston-based George W. Bush appointee, isn\u2019t the only judge to rule that ICE\u2019s decision last year to relax restrictions on enforcement at churches threatened religious freedom. A federal judge in Maryland last year similarly concluded<\/u> that ICE\u2019s enforcement threats chilled religious liberty. That ruling by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. The motion filed Thursday asking Saylor to begin the contempt process sets up yet another clash between the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and the Border Patrol, and the federal courts.\u201d<\/p>\n

As evidence of this growing clash, Politico notes that \u201cin recent weeks, DHS\u2019 top lawyer, James Percival, has used his X account to pillory federal judges \u2014 including several of Saylor’s colleagues, in Boston \u2014 for allegedly slow-walking immigration-related cases. One of those judges, Allison Burroughs, in a recent decision, accusing Percival \u2014 and DHS more broadly \u2014 of \u2018shameful cruelty.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump in crisis as he alienates pivotal MAGA group: DC insider<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, religious groups asked a federal judge to hold Department of Justice officials in contempt for violating a court order barring immigration enforcement actions in houses of worship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nChurch leaders ask federal judge to punish Trump\u2019s DOJ - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=5094\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Church leaders ask federal judge to punish Trump\u2019s DOJ - 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