JUST IN: Obama Judge Blocks Trump Admin From Conducting ICE Raids at Some Churches

Gateway Pundit ^ | February 24, 2025 | Cristina Laila

[Macho MAGA Man]

A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump Administration from conducting ICE raids at some places of worship.

US District Judge Theodore Chuang, an Obama appointee, blocked ICE raids on the churches, which filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration.

ICE can still conduct raids at churches and places of worship that are not involved in the lawsuit.

Politico reported:

A federal judge in Maryland has blocked the Trump administration from conducting immigration enforcement actions — like raids and arrests — at a handful of churches, temples and other places of worship that sued over the new policy.

Unlike some of the nationwide restraining orders judges have issued against Trump administration policies in recent weeks, the order issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang applies only to the facilities used by a handful of Quaker, Baptist and Sikh denominations and congregations that sued last month.

The Trump administration removed limits the Biden administration had imposed on enforcement at “sensitive” sites such as churches, schools and hospitals. Chuang, an appointee of President Barack Obama, said in a 59-page opinion that the removal of those limits threatened the religious freedom of the groups seeking relief from the court.

“The substantial burden that the [Trump administration] policy is far from speculative and is already occurring,” wrote Chuang, who noted reports that congregations with large immigrant populations have drawn fewer attendees since the Trump directive was issued last month. “It is reasonable to expect that such enforcement actions will occur at Plaintiffs’ place of worship where DHS specifically stated in its press release announcing the 2025 policy that ‘criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest.’”

[GingisK]

See Wako, See Ruby Ridge.

That was the FBI under Janet Reno at the direction of the Clintons. They were untrained for the operation, didn't have a reasonable "Rules of Engagement", and were hot-dogging for the press.

I thought things were supposed to be done better under Trump.

[MotorCityBuck]

Henry II disagrees.😉

[Skwor]

Doesn’t make it any less complicated and does not make the criminally bad actors in a crowd of innocents all barricaded together any less volatile.

The risk can be reasonably assessed as much higher to innocents than entering the building and making arrests. You are literally creating a hostage situation.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Bullfeathers

[cgbg]

The Muslims have been masters at hiding terrorists in their houses of worship—because ya know it would be tacky to do anything about it.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

You and I both know what would happen.

[GingisK]

You are literally creating a hostage situation.

Given bad actors initially present, that would be the case prior to erecting a cordon. I think that level of intensity would be the exception rather than the rule. The US already has clear rules regarding hostage situations, and they are harsh.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Thats a fact

[Pikachu_Dad]

Indeed, Very tacky.

They have the power to select when they catch a person.

[GingisK]

Contentless. Non-process run out. Input discarded.

[Bratch]

The Sanctuary Movement: A Brief History

by Rhonda Shapiro-Rieser | Posted on March 1, 2017

As a religious concept, “sanctuary” is connected to a sense of holiness and means to be “set apart.” The word sanctuary, when used in the context of political movements, has come to also mean places of physical safety, as in the current designation of Sanctuary Cities.

Yet, the roots for this idea come from the the Hebrew Bible bible which recounts the creation of “Cities of Refuge.” In the case of accidental death, the killer could flee to a City of Refuge. That person was then protected from vengeance by the family of the slain. Later, Greek and Roman societies both held the concept of refuge and places of sanctuary. By the fourth century the right to sanctuary was formalized among early Christians.

By the thirteenth century a person could hide in a church for 40 days and in some instances stay indefinitely. This was known as seeking “sanctuary” and it seems sanctuary was known then as synonymous with the word “refuge.” Charles the Second offered asylum to persecuted Calvinists from France in 1681. This may be the first instance of a state offering protection to people who were citizens of another state. Laws of sanctuary remained in place more or less until the twentieth Century when the state then began to claim full authority to enter Churches.

However, ideas of refuge did not disappear. Some American colonies defied the prohibition on church asylum and gave support to fugitives. There was popular support for protection outside ecclesiastical systems. One such popular and famous movement is the Underground Railroad, in which Churches played a prominent role. The Underground Railroad has been seen by scholars as “the forerunner of the labor, civil rights, antiwar, sanctuary and women’s movements.”

The more current Sanctuary movement first developed in the 1960s as an attempt to protect Americans who resisted the draft and opposed the Vietnam War. William Sloan Coffin talked about a “sanctuary for the conscientious.” Churches in several cities announced that they would be sanctuaries for draft resisters. Many resisters and those giving them sanctuary were arrested.

The Sanctuary movement in the United States is most known for the work done on behalf of refugees from Central America in the 1980s. This movement based itself on the precedents of European and church history and was influenced by Liberation Theology. Sanctuary widened from the idea of a church to sanctuary communities who confronted immigration policies and intolerance as manifested in immigration policies. These actions included legal help and provision of shelter in private homes and other settings. They provided shelter in churches and homes, and created a modern Underground Railroad for refugees.

As with many social and political trends, this one is deeply rooted in the spiritual traditions, and our society has much to learn from the moral convictions from which the notion of Sanctuary, or safety for all people grew.

[Alas Babylon!]

So if I murder someone or rob a bank, I can go hang out at a Sikh Temple and never be arrested?

How silly is this judge?

[FlingWingFlyer]

This looks like it’s Jacinta Ma’s meal ticket. She’s also funded by the Nazi, Georgy Soros.

[GingisK]

...hang out at a Sikh Temple and never be arrested?

I willing to bet that a criminal would go insane in one of those places, only to eagerly surrender to police in after some time.

[arthurus]

So the wetbacks knw no to crowd into those churches and despoil them with typical third world care. Let them do it. The churches can force them out but if they pity the immigrantes pobres, the churches become prisons. The wetbacks cannot leave without being rounded up and church services become disrupted or impossible. I am sure the woke folk will keep them fed for a while but the ICErs can wait.

[arthurus]

Don’t have too. Surround the church and wait the wetbacks out.

[GingisK]

Exactly what I have been advocating throughout this thread.

[delchiante]

at a handful of churches, temples and other places of worship that sued over the new policy..
.....

Those that go to that length are hopefully on the radar now of ICE..

[Leaning Right]

> Surround the church and wait the wetbacks out. <

That won’t work (please see my post #72).

And here’s the thing. “Progressives” both here and in Europe live in a fantasy world. By harboring illegals they all imagine they’re saving Anne Frank.

They would be prepared. They would welcome a siege, as it feeds into their fantasies.

[GingisK]

Do you have any idea the resources it takes? Nope, you don’t.

I do. So do many others who trained for such.