PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A farmworkers’ union and a group of churches spanning Oregon, California and Florida held a press conference on Tuesday laying out their lawsuit against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in sensitive locations.

Filed Monday in Eugene, Oregon, the lawsuit challenges the administration’s efforts to end protections in which immigration agents avoided detaining people in “sensitive locations” such as churches, schools, courthouses and hospitals.

That practice has been in place for decades, the lawsuit says, noting on day one of President Trump’s second term, the Department of Homeland Security revoked a memo issued by former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in 2020 under the Biden administration, that recognized protection of sensitive locations.

“For over three decades, this country’s rules on immigration enforcement have protected sacred spaces, where individuals access critical human services. These protections mirror the foundational American beliefs and laws that guarantee the free exercise of religion, defend the right to assembly and safeguard the unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” said Tess Hellgren, the plaintiffs’ attorney and director of legal advocacy at Innovation Law Lab in Portland.

“But on January 20, 2025, the Trump administration abruptly and arbitrarily reversed course by opening sensitive locations to immigration enforcement at the discretion of immigration agents,” Hellgren said during Tuesday’s press conference. “Faced with this unlawful reversal, the organizations in this case have sued to protect their ability to sustain their missions and the fundamental freedom of their members.”

Innovation Law Lab and the Justice Action Center filed the lawsuit on behalf of several organizations including Oregon farmworkers’ union Pineros Y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN), and several churches, including Portland’s Augustana Lutheran Church, San Francisco’s Our Lady Guadalupe Parish, the San Francisco Interfaith Council and Westminster Presbyterian Church in Gainesville, Florida.

Those organizations filed the lawsuit against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons and Pete Flores, the acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protections — alleging the administration has violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Administrative Procedures Act.

“As a result of the administration’s new policy, sacred spaces have become sources of extreme anxiety rather than places of healing, expression, reflection, celebration, and refuge. Community members are deprived of social services and places where they gather to celebrate, educate, and advocate; parishioners are afraid to attend religious ceremonies; and essential services to the most vulnerable—from healthcare to education to disaster relief—have been disrupted. Defendants’ actions are not only unlawful, but they strike the heart of what allows a civil society to flourish—its sacred spaces,” the lawsuit claims.

According to Innovation Law Lab, removing the protections has “wreaked havoc” on the plaintiffs and immigrant communities who witness the “often traumatizing and chilling ICE activity.”

“These organizations are striving for a more perfect nation where no person should be forced to retreat from civic life out of fear of deportation or indefinite detention,” Hellgren said.

The plaintiffs argue they cannot carry out parts of their missions to support immigrant communities without the sensitive location protection.

“Many of PCUN’s members, they’ve been placed in an untenable situation where they have to choose whether to get necessary medical care or risk immigration detention. This harms their ability to be able to provide for their families and to continue to work,” said PCUN President Reyna Lopez. “Our mission has been harmed because we are no longer able to guarantee that people can be safe coming to our offices and that people can be safe coming to our events. None of us should have to live in fear of the Trump administration.”

Reverend Rebecca Putman, a pastor at Westminster Presbyterian, added, “Our congregation is small, only about 700 members. But each week, 700 people use our church for various community events. Among those, we partner with local nonprofit organizations to host different programs and workshops and also provide legal and support services for Gainesville’s immigrant community members,” noting the church does not fall anywhere on the political spectrum.

“Allowing immigration enforcement in sensitive locations impedes our ability to fulfill our mission,” Putman said. “Immigration action at houses of worship defiles a place where people should be and feel safe.”

On her decision to join the lawsuit, Putman said, “Defending our right to carry out our mission is vital.”

The lawsuit comes as some Oregon officials and religious leaders have spoken out in support of immigrant communities amid the administration’s crackdown on immigration.

This includes church leaders such as Rev. Mark Knutson of Augustana Lutheran, who trains congregations on sanctuary church initiatives.

In February, the reverend said he was denied entry to an ICE facility in Portland during a routine check-in.

Knutson said he attempted to accompany a man into the immigration detention facility on South Macadam Avenue when a worker at the ICE facility told Knutson he couldn’t accompany him.

“That’s what we do as clergy, we go and be with people and get let into these places. This is a first, that they’ve ever done this,” Knutson previously said. “The practice is at ICE, you can accompany as a clergy, a person that’s going in to check in, because you never know what’s going to happen once you’re inside.”

In a statement to affiliate KOIN on Tuesday, a DHS spokesperson said, “We are protecting our schools, places of worship, and Americans who attend by preventing criminal aliens and gang members from exploiting these locations and taking safe haven there because these criminals knew law enforcement couldn’t go inside under the previous Administration. DHS’s directive gives our law enforcement the ability to do their jobs. For context: Our agents use discretion. Officers would need secondary supervisor approval before any action can be taken in locations such as a church or a school. We expect these to be extremely rare.”

KOIN also reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.