A successful appeal has cleared the way for Mennonite Church USA and other denominations to again seek protection for churches in “sensitive locations” from immigration enforcement activities.

MC USA and its 26 co-plaintiffs “won an important ruling” Oct. 20 in the lawsuit Mennonite Church USA et al., v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, et al., according to a denominational release. “It moves MC USA closer to protecting its churches and may also set a precedent for other similar cases.”

The 2-1 decision at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington, D.C., found the denominations face a real and immediate risk of immigration enforcement at or near their places of worship as a result of a January 2025 DHS memo that rescinded a previous policy to avoid enforcement actions at such locations.

The ruling overturned an April 2025 decision by a lower court that found the risk was not clear enough to justify court action. The case now returns to that lower court, where MC USA will again ask for a preliminary injunction a year and a half after it filed the lawsuit to protect congregations from immigration enforcement activities while the lawsuit continues.

“Plaintiffs’ members likely face imminent harm from increased enforcement at their houses of worship; that harm is traceable to the new enforcement policy; and the relief requested will likely redress their injury, at least in part,” wrote Circuit Judge Florence Y. Pan in her opinion, noting “plaintiffs have direct evidence that the government intends to increase immigration enforcement at sensitive locations.”

MC USA and other Christian and Jewish faith groups filed the lawsuit on Feb. 11, 2025, after the Trump administration’s rescission of the DHS “sensitive locations” policy. Since the 1990s, federal policies have largely kept immigration agents from making arrests, conducting raids or taking other enforcement actions at houses of worship.

“We’re asking the government to not interfere with our right to practice our faith freely, which is protected by the Constitution,” said Michael Danner, MC USA associate executive director of church vitality, a few weeks after the lawsuit was filed in 2025. “… [The lawsuit is asking the government] to enforce laws in ways that don’t stop us from following Jesus’ command to love our neighbors.”

Congregations or ministries that observe such enforcement activity in or around their place of worship are asked to contact Iris de León-Hartshorn at [email protected] and copy their conference minister for documentation of any encroachment into sacred spaces with the court.

The plaintiffs are represented by the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection from Georgetown University Law Center.