A federal judge declined a request on April 11 to block immigration agents from conducting enforcement operations at places of worship while a lawsuit filed by religious groups works its way through the court system.

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington handed down the ruling one week after Mennonite Church USA and more than two dozen other Christian and Jewish groups requested a preliminary injunction. Mennonite Church USA et al. v. United States Department of Homeland Security et al., challenges the Trump administration’s decision to rescind a ban on immigration raids in places of worship.

The faith groups represent millions of members and include the Church of the Brethren, the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church USA, Friends General Council, and several United Methodist bodies.

Friedrich was appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term. The Associated Press reported she ruled that there have been only a handful of enforcement actions at places of worship and there was not a big enough threat of legal harm to justify a preliminary injunction.

“At least at this juncture and on this record, the plaintiffs have not made the requisite showing of a ‘credible threat’ of enforcement,” Friedrich wrote. “Nor does the present record show that places of worship are being singled out as special targets.”

The religious groups argued Trump’s policy change scared people without sufficient immigration documentation from attending church or utilizing ministries and other support services, but Friedrich responded that “the asserted chilling effect is speculative and insufficient to establish standing.”

The ruling stands in contrast to an injunction U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang granted in Maryland in a similar case brought in February by a much smaller group of Quakers and other religious groups.

In the suit, MC USA specifically “renounces the indifference to and mistreatment of undocumented and documented immigrants and commits itself to joining God’s reconciling mission and to living and acting as sisters and brothers in Christ regardless of legal status.”

Friedrich’s ruling suggested she might have come to a different conclusion if the plaintiffs showed evidence of greater impact on their ministries.

MC USA moderator Jon Carlson wrote in an April 14 letter that any MC USA congregation or ministry should contact associate executive director of operations Iris de León-Hartshorn and their conference minister if immigration enforcement activity takes place in or around a place of worship.

He included a reminder that even though government decisions affect people’s lives directly, ultimate hope comes not from any human government but the reign of God.

“Anabaptist Christians have always looked for ways to experience and embody the reign of God in daily life, even when following Jesus draws suspicion or opposition from earthly rulers,” he wrote. “My prayer for us is that the Holy Spirit would strengthen us in our inner being, giving us the courage to live faithfully by loving God, loving our neighbors, welcoming strangers and praying for those who persecute us.”

This article was updated April 17.