Immigration v. Religious Freedom in Trump’s America: Offering Legal Sanctuary in Places of Worship
IMMIGRATION V. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN TRUMP’S AMERICA:
OFFERING LEGAL SANCTUARY IN PLACES OF WORSHIP
Lydia Weiant*
ABSTRACT
As President Trump’s administration has cracked down on immigration
enforcement, places of worship have increasingly entered the fray to offer shelter
to undocumented immigrants as part of a broader sanctuary movement. Over the
same period, case law surrounding religious freedoms has dramatically shifted
and vastly expanded the protections afforded to religious exercise. This Note
describes the legal risks that places of worship could encounter should they
decide to offer sanctuary. It concludes by discussing the ways places of worship
can get involved in the sanctuary movement without exposing themselves to crim-
inal liabilities or increasing undocumented immigrants’ hardships.
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
I. THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELIGIOUS SANCTUARY
MOVEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
A. History of Sanctuary Places of Worship: The 1980s . . . . . . . . 261
B. The “New Sanctuary Movement” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
II. WHY ARE PLACES OF WORSHIP HESITANT TO PROVIDE SANCTUARY?. . . . 264
A. Places of Worship May Fear That Immigrants Will Still Be
Deported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
B. Undocumented Immigrants Seeking Sanctuary in Places of
Worship May Face Crippling Fines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
C. By Offering Sanctuary, Places of Worship May Risk Violating
Local Zoning Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
III. HOW MIGHT THE CRIMINAL HARBORING LAWS APPLY TO HOUSES OF
WORSHIP?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
A. The Federal Anti-Harboring Law, 8 U.S.C. § 1324, May Apply
to Places of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
B. Places of Worship Likely Have Few Viable Defenses to
Criminal Harboring Charges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
IV. WHAT SHOULD SANCTUARY PLACES OF WORSHIP DO?. . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
* Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. 2020; Ohio University, B.A. 2016. Special thanks to Laura
Weiant—a trailblazing pastor who has long grappled with the practical implications of sanctuary—for inspiring
me to explore the intersection between our various passions. Thank you to the staff of the American Criminal
Law Review for their hard work in helping me make this Note the best it could be for publication. © 2021, Lydia
Weiant.
257
A. Places of Worship Should Consider Engaging in Lower-Risk
Sanctuary Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
1. Sanctuaries May Protect Immigrants from Deportation . . . 279
2. Places of Worship Can Engage in Activities Less Likely to
Lead to Criminal Harboring Prosecution . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
B. Places of Worship Should Seek Protections from Local and
State Governments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
C. Places of Worship Should Be Cautious of Bringing an As-Applied
Constitutional Challenge Against § 1324 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
INTRODUCTION
In 2014, Samuel Oliver-Bruno entered the United States using a fraudulent
Texas birth certificate.
1
His wife was suffering from lupus, and he crossed the bor-
der in 2013 seeking better medical care.
2
Oliver-Bruno followed just months later.
3
After being arrested and convicted for attempting to enter the United States with
fraudulent documents, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”)
granted Oliver-Bruno permission to stay under an order of supervision, allowing
him to remain with his wife while she received medical attention.
4
However, his
supervision order only lasted until November 2017, at which time ICE revoked his
permission to remain in the country.
5
When ICE ordered his deportation in November 2017, Oliver-Bruno took refuge
in the basement of CityWell United Methodist Church in Durham, North Carolina,
where he lived for the next eleven months.
6
Generally, ICE does not enter places
of worship to arrest undocumented immigrants,
7
and CityWell offered Oliver-
Bruno a safe place to live as he sought to defer his deportation in order to remain
with his sick wife and nineteen year-old son.
8
During his eleven-month stay at
1. Catherine E. Shoichet, They Thought Living in Churches Would Protect Them. Now They Fear Nowhere is
Safe, CNN (Dec. 22, 2018), https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/22/us/north-carolina-immigration-sanctuary-churches/
index.html.
2. Meagan Flynn, Feds Deport Undocumented Immigrant Whose Church Supporters Went to Jail to Protect
Him, WASH. POST (Nov. 30, 2018) [hereinafter Flynn, Feds Deport], https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/
2018/11/30/feds-deport-undocumented-immigrant-whose-church-supporters-went-jail-protect-him/?noredirect=
on&utm_term=.7a418f6f6ab6.
3. Id.
4. Id.
5. Id.
6. See Dad Who Lived in North Carolina Church Loses Bid to Avoid Deportation, CBS NEWS (Nov. 27,
2018), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/samuel-oliver-bruno-immigrant-who-lived-in-north-carolina-church-
loses-bid-to-avoid-deportation/.
7. See STUDENT AND EXCHANGE VISITOR PROGRAM OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS: ICE SENSITIVE LOCATIONS,
U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (July 28, 2020) [hereinafter ICE SENSITIVE LOCATIONS],
https://www.ice.gov/sevis/operating-instructions#tab2.
8. See Flynn, Feds Deport, supra note 2; see also Letter from G.K. Butterfield, Member of Congress, and
David E. Price, Member of Congress, to Jay Weselmann, Field Officer Director, U.S. Citizenship and
258 AMERICAN CRIMINAL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 58:257
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