A Jesuit parish of San Diego, more than a century, has joined other churches and an agricultural organization across the country in a federal trial contesting the will of the Trump administration to put its repression of immigration to “sensitive locations”.
“I feel like the only effective tool with this administration is prosecution,” said the Reverend Scott Santosa of Notre-Dame de Guadalupe, the parish of Logan Heights. “It doesn’t tend to be the first method of defense of the Church, but I think that with this administration, that’s what we have to do.”
Legal action, deposited at the Federal Court of Oregon, comes after the Trump administration in January canceled a policy of several years which limited immigration arrests in places previously considered to be prohibited, such as schools, hospitals and churches, with certain exceptions.
Founded in 1917, Notre-Dame de Guadalupe, which hung on an outside banner with the message “We belong”, describes itself as an immigrant parish. Santosa said that many of its members are either undocumented or a parent or a friend who is.
“We are committed to doing everything we can, at all levels, trying to protect our parishioners,” he said.
The complainants include community organization based in Oregon Pineros y Campesinos unidos del Norote; The Augustana Lutheran Church, also from Oregon; San Francisco Interfaith Council in California; And the presbyterian church of Westminster in Florida.
The complaint indicates that the actions of the government violate the first amendment as well as the law on the restoration of religious freedom.
“Because of the new administration policy, sacred spaces have become sources of extreme anxiety rather than places of healing, expression, reflection, celebration and refuge,” said the complaint.
“The members of the community are deprived of social services and places where they meet to celebrate, educate and defend; The parishioners are afraid of attending religious ceremonies; And essential services to the most vulnerable – from health care to education, including help in the event of a disaster – have been disrupted. ”
The costume appoints the chiefs of the Ministry of Internal Security, Customs and the Protection of Borders, as well as the application of immigration and customs as defendants.
When the cancellation of the policy was announced just after President Donald Trump took office, a spokesman for the Ministry of Homeland Security said that the action would allow immigration officials “to enforce our immigration laws and capture criminal foreigners”.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in American schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump administration will not bind the hands of our courageous applications of the law, and rather trust them to use common sense,” a spokesperson said on January 21.
A spokesperson for the ICE said that the agency does not comment on current disputes. CBP, which operates under the DHS, did not respond to a request for comments on the trial.
Santosa said that if the new policy is applied or not, “people are stressed.”
“If access to this trial with the other complainants can help us win this, at least on Sunday when they come to mass, (people) are protected. It would be an important step,” he said.
The parish has already organized knowledge sessions with the immigrant community, as well as processions organized in solidarity with immigrants.
The complaint indicates that the American government has followed certain directives to operate in sensitive locations for decades.
Under the Biden Administration, the former secretary of the DHS, Alejandro Mayorkas, has issued a policy that immigration implementation measures “should not be taken in or near a place that would restrict people’s access to essential services or commitment to essential activities.”
Protected areas included places of worship, schools, health establishments and social service establishments.
“Our objective is to obtain help from the national level for all types of sensitive locations,” said Hillary Li, lawyer for Justice Action Center, who filed the trial with innovation Law Lab on behalf of the group.
“We want our case to be a victory for places that include community organizations, places of worship, but also schools and health establishments,” she said.
The trial joins other legal efforts at the national level in response to administration’s actions in sensitive places. A group of Quaker congregations filed a complaint earlier this year, which prompted a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the measures to apply immigration but limited to places of worship operated by the complainants.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
