Possible deportation raids of houses of worship worry some LI faith leaders

Some churches and synagogues on Long Island are bracing for President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed mass deportation plan and fear he will overturn a long-standing prohibition against agents raiding houses of worship to arrest immigrants in the country illegally.

For years immigration agents have steered clear of places of worship, schools and hospitals under a federal policy declaring them "sensitive locations." But it is not a law, and could change under Trump, some of whose allies favor allowing the raids, according to legal and immigration experts.

Some faith leaders on Long Island are worried and have started to plan how they will respond. Trump has said he will begin his mass deportation effort shortly after his swearing in on Jan. 20.

"We consider very much houses of worship to be places of peace and safety and care for people," said the Rev. Kate Jones Calone, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Long Island, which coordinates the 54 Presbyterian churches on Long Island. "So to have that kind of disruption of rights of houses of worship to provide that kind of space for people ... would be very troubling."

The Presbyterian church nationwide has a longtime commitment to immigrants and refugees based on gospel values of welcoming the stranger, she said. One, in Setauket, declared itself a "sanctuary church" during the first Trump administration, meaning it would offer haven to immigrants in danger of being arrested and deported by federal agents.

Although Trump made implementing what he called the largest deportation program in U.S. history a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, he has not said publicly whether he would send U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents into churches and other sensitive locations.

But Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's policy road map for Trump’s second term, calls for rescinding the guidance on "sensitive places." Trump tried to distance himself from the 900-page playbook during the campaign, but he has nominated many who worked on it for his new administration, including Tom Homan for "border czar."

"All ICE memoranda identifying ‘sensitive zones’ where ICE personnel are prohibited from operating should be rescinded," Project 2025 said. "Rely on the good judgment of officers in the field to avoid inappropriate situations."

The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment about the Project 2025 statement.

No law against raids

With fears of a crackdown spreading around the country, at least one house of worship, Lincoln United Methodist Church in Chicago, already has stopped holding in-person Spanish-language services and instead moved them online.

Patrick Young, a special professor of immigration law at Hofstra University Law School, said that "basically prior presidents had ruled certain targets as off limits for ICE. If ICE decides to go to a Spanish-language Mass or go to a hospital, they have been told not to do that," unless they are pursuing a suspected criminal.

However, "there is nothing in the law that prevents" an administration from changing the "sensitive zones" policy, he said.

The Diocese of Rockville Centre, the largest religious institution on Long Island, with 1.3 million baptized Roman Catholics and 134 parishes, said it would oppose such a move.

"The diocese hopes that the sanctity of churches as places where all peoples feel safe to come and be fed in their spiritual and physical needs will continue to be respected," diocesan spokesman the Rev. Eric Fasano said in a statement. "In addition to offering worship and sacraments, our parishes often provide food to anyone who is poor, regardless of their religion or any other circumstances."

The issue is of particular importance to the Catholic Church nationwide and on Long Island because a growing number of its congregants are Latinos, who make up by far the largest proportion of immigrants in the country illegally, according to immigration experts and government officials. Mexico accounts for 4.8 million of the nearly 11 million immigrants illegally in the country, the Department of Homeland Security estimates. It is followed by Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

Many faith leaders are reluctant to talk publicly about their plans regarding Trump’s immigration policies since they don’t want to draw attention to themselves and their congregations, said Richard Koubek, a founder of Long Island-based Abraham’s Table, a group that promotes interfaith ties.

Although the leaders don’t know exactly what Trump will do, they are discussing how to respond if he does rescind the "sensitive locations" policy, Koubek said. "We are trying to prepare for the worst."

One point he and others are making to faith leaders is that if immigration agents show up with an internal ICE warrant, they do not have to let them inside their houses of worship. The agents must be allowed in only if they have a judicial order signed by a judge, said Koubek, who is also community outreach coordinator for the nonprofit Long Island Jobs with Justice.

The Rev. Larry Duncklee, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in Riverhead, says he doubts the Trump administration will go so far as to send ICE agents into churches or synagogues during Masses, funerals or weddings, in part because of the optics of it.

But his heavily Latino parish is nonetheless preparing congregants for the mass deportation effort in general. The parish has posted signs alerting them to a "Know Your Rights" workshop put on by the American Civil Liberties Union that aim to inform immigrants of their rights if an agent stops or detains them.

They are telling the immigrants not to open their door, for instance, and to tell the agents to slip any warrants under the door.

"Hispanic people are afraid," Duncklee said. "Some have started to go back already now ahead of time" to their homelands instead of waiting for the deportation program.

Chilling effect on worshippers

The Rev. Marie Tatro, who heads the community justice ministry for the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, says there is a real chance immigration agents will raid churches, partly because of the focus Trump has put on illegal immigration. She fears such roundups would have a chilling effect on people attending services.

"That kind of action could really shatter the trust and leave people too afraid to seek the spiritual and community support that they desperately need," Tatro said.

She thinks the chilling effect could extend to immigrants being too afraid to send their children to school or seek medical care — "shattering people’s lives and souls in so many ways," she said.

The Episcopal Diocese of Long Island declared itself a "sanctuary diocese" during Trump’s first term, and that may be revived if the promised crackdown comes, Tatro said.

"I know that there are a number of priests and deacons across the diocese who will want to step up and help someone who is in crisis," she said.

It’s not clear if the Setauket Presbyterian Church will revive its sanctuary work. There’s been a change in leadership there, and the new pastor declined to comment.

Temple Beth-El, in Huntington, declared itself a sanctuary during Trump’s first term, said Rabbi Jeffrey Clopper. Now, the congregation has restarted talks about whether it should revive its sanctuary, which was not needed under President Joe Biden, he said.

A new complicating factor, though, is whether ICE agents might raid the synagogue, he said.

"We feel for the immigrants because we’ve been there," Clopper said. "All of us as part of the Jewish community understand what it is like to be in a place where you are not wanted."

Jones Calone, of the Presbyterian churches, says although they are still formulating their response if Trump rescinds the "sensitive locations" protocol, the issue is critical for them because of their defense of migrants.

"This is very central to our faith," she said. "So I think there is a lot of anxiety about what might be coming."