The day after President Donald Trump took office, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a directive allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents to arrest illegal immigrants in “sensitive areas,” such as churches and schools.
The directive rescinds an ICE policy from 2011 that required agents to seek higher level approval before arresting people at these “sensitive” locations.
In a press release, the DHS stated, “This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens—including murders and rapists—who have illegally come into our country. Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Places of worship are for worship and are not sanctuaries for illegal activity or for harboring people engaged in illegal activity. Fugitives or criminals are not immune from the law merely because they enter a place of worship. To suggest otherwise makes no sense and would open the door to lawlessness and chaos. Places of worship are not criminal enterprises. Joe Biden is the one who sought to change the reach of the law. President Donald Trump has restored the law as it was before Biden and should remain. This is not a matter of religious freedom. There is no right to openly violate the law and disobey law enforcement.”
