Religious groups ask court to hold Homeland Security in contempt over church surveillance

Eleven religious organizations have filed a motion accusing President Donald Trump's administration of breaking a court order that bars warrantless surveillance in churches. The motion, filed August 20, 2026, asks the court to hold the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in contempt, arguing that there have been "multiple serious violations" of a preliminary restraining order issued in February.

The plaintiffs include American Baptist Churches USA and several regional bodies of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. They brought the case in July, challenging the government's decision to revoke the "sensitive locations" policy, which had discouraged immigration raids at schools, hospitals and houses of worship. In February a federal judge issued a 62-page order temporarily barring warrantless investigations at the churches involved, except in "exigent" circumstances.

Documented violations

Documents filed last week in a separate case revealed DHS surveillance operations at five Midwestern churches, one of them covered by the court order. In one of the operations, an undercover DHS agent spent at least two hours inside University Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. That church is affiliated with two of the plaintiffs, American Baptist Churches USA and the Alliance of Baptists.

The new motion accuses federal agents of "repeatedly violating the preliminary injunction" even though signs had been posted on the building stating that "these facilities are a protected area under the federal court order." Skye Perryman, director of Democracy Forward, accused DHS agents of invading "churches and other places of refuge, terrorizing the people who seek shelter and relief in them."

Government argument rejected

According to the motion, lawyers for the plaintiffs contacted DHS lawyers about the surveillance, and the government's legal team insisted that the activities do not count as the "immigration enforcement actions" barred by the order. The religious groups' lawyers rejected that argument, saying that "DHS has not explained at all under what authority ICE agents could carry out investigations into crimes that have no connection to the immigration laws."

The lawyers say DHS took "no steps to consider the preliminary injunction before acting" and that "the argument DHS now offers may merely reflect a later effort to escape the consequences of its conduct." A DHS spokesperson said the agency would not comment on the filings, saying that "DHS does not comment on the existence or status of specific ongoing investigations."

Ongoing litigation

The case, New England Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America v. Department of Homeland Security, is one of four similar suits now before the courts over the sensitive locations policy. More than 50 religious denominations, regional denominational bodies, faith-based organizations and individual houses of worship have sued the government since Trump began his second term.

Several regional Quaker groups, a Sikh temple and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship won a similar preliminary injunction last year in a separate suit. That order was appealed, but a federal appeals court agreed unanimously on Tuesday to leave it in place.