The Fourth Circuit has affirmed a preliminary injunction obtained by Quaker, Sikh, and Baptist congregations requiring DHS to abide by its 2021 policy limiting immigration enforcement at houses of worship, after the agency rescinded that policy in January 2025 in favor of officer "discretion" and "common sense."
The Court held the plaintiffs had standing based on documented declines in worship attendance traceable to the new policy, and were likely to succeed on their claim that the policy substantially burdens their religious exercise under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by increasing the threat of enforcement actions at their services and pressuring congregations to compromise beliefs of welcoming all worshippers and pacifism. Because the government failed to argue or present evidence in the district court that the new policy was the least restrictive means of advancing a compelling interest, the Court held it had waived that defense.
The full text of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends v. DHS can be found here: https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/251512.P.pdf