Washington/New Delhi, Feb 25 (UNI) Nearly a month after law enforcement officials in the US recced gurdwaras in New York and New Jersey to hunt for illegal immigrants, a federal judge in Maryland blocked the Trump administration from carrying out immigration enforcement actions at certain places of worship, including for Sikhs.
The federal judge on Monday issued the directive following lawsuits by the Quakers, Cooperative Baptists and Sikhs, challenging President Trump's unwinding of a Biden-era memo that barred immigration arrests at certain protected locations.
US District Judge Theodore Chuang granted a request for a narrow preliminary injunction sought by the religious groups as they pursue their challenge to President Trump's directive allowing federal immigration authorities to conduct enforcement actions at places of worship. Chuang's order only applies to houses of worship owned or used by the challengers — the Quakers, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Sikh Temple, reported CBS News.
The groups had argued that the new policy allowing immigration arrests at places that were previously considered protected violates their First Amendment rights and burdens the free exercise of religion under federal law.
The judge ordered the Trump administration to reinstate a 2021 memorandum from then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that barred the department and its components from taking enforcement action in certain places that "require special protection," including schools, medical facilities or places of worship.
The court's order requires the Department of Homeland Security under Trump to abide by the terms of the 2021 memo when pursuing enforcement actions at the three faith communities' places of worship.
Gurdwara Sahib West Sacramento is among the dozens of religious groups that have sued the Trump administration over the past few weeks after the removal of restrictions that prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement from conducting raids in places considered “sensitive” locations.
There are an estimated 500,000 Sikhs and more than 350 gurdwaras across the US, according to the Sikh Coalition, a national civil rights nonprofit.
The Sikhs, who first arrived in the U.S. in the 1800s, have largely made homes in New York and California. But other areas have also become major cultural hubs, including Chicago, Oklahoma City and Dallas. While there’s no specific data on undocumented Sikhs, there are roughly 725,000 Indian undocumented immigrants in the U.S., according to 2021 Pew Research Center estimates, NBC reported.
UNI RN