On the eve of the anniversary of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the Global Refuge advocacy team will host a webinar discussion covering policy and advocacy updates affecting Ukrainians in the United States. 

Register for the webinar.

Important News on this Friday!

Ruling Affirms Religious Freedom and Stops DHS From Targeting Communities

Boston, Mass. — The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued an order today in New England Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, et al. v. Department of Homeland Security, et al., blocking the Trump-Vance administration’s policy that seeks to give  the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its bureaus, like the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), free rein to conduct raids and enforcement actions at and around houses of worship. Plaintiffs in this case are represented by Democracy Forward, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and Gilbert LLP. This is the second court order blocking ICE from raiding houses of worship secured by Democracy Forward. 

For more than three decades, the federal government respected the special and sacred role of houses of worship by restricting immigration enforcement at such “sensitive locations,” acknowledging that to carry out raids, arrests, and surveillance at those locations could deny people of faith access to their places of worship and violate religious freedom rights. Today’s ruling restores essential safeguards and protects the right to religious exercise at houses of worship and other sites of religious education and ministry.

Plaintiffs include New England Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Greater Milwaukee Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Southwest California Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Southwestern Texas Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Sierra Pacific Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; San Francisco Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends; Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends; North Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends; American Baptist Churches USA; Alliance of Baptists; and Metropolitan Community Churches, who issued the following joint statement: 

“As people of faith, our sacred spaces must remain places of safety, refuge, and worship. For decades, our congregations have opened their doors to all, regardless of immigration status, and carried out ministries grounded in dignity, compassion, and community. Today’s ruling affirms a simple but profound principle: religious freedom belongs to everyone. We are grateful the court recognized that truth and protected the rights of our communities.”

“This is the second federal court to confirm what we have long known: the Trump-Vance administration’s attempt to turn sacred houses of worship into houses of fear for immigrant communities is unlawful,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward.“Religious liberty and the ability of all people to worship freely is a core democratic value. For more than 30 years, the federal government has respected the special role of houses of worship. This court order reaffirms that sacred spaces are not staging grounds for fear and intimidation. The Trump-Vance administration’s policy of fear and terror is not about immigration enforcement, it is about eroding the core rights of people and the foundational values of our democracy. We are grateful to our brave clients and are pleased that the court’s order will enable them to conduct worship services free from fear and intimidation.” 

“Freedom of religion is the first freedom in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” said Joanne Lin, Executive Director of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. “The court’s order makes clear that routine immigration enforcement ‘cannot justify the harm to religious freedom posed by the new [DHS] policy.’ We are proud to stand with our clients dedicated to gathering in community to worship in freedom.”

“Unfortunately, actions by DHS have made our clients (and others at sensitive locations throughout the country) fearful of worshipping in community. We are thrilled that the Court has issued a preliminary injunction with respect to the plaintiffs in this litigation, acknowledging the harms caused by the policy. This represents a first step towards justice, and will help ensure that our clients can worship freely without this fear. We look forward to seeing this case through to a final resolution,” said Sonia Murphy, Litigation Partner at Gilbert LLP.

The legal team at Democracy Forward in this case includes Kevin Friedl, Sarah Goetz, Andrew Bookbinder, Sterling Moore, Mark Samburg, Audrey Wiggins, and Ayesha Khan. 

Read the complaint here and the injunction here.

Oppose additional funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other immigration enforcement in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Homeland Security budget. 

Congress is currently negotiating the FY26 Homeland Security Appropriations Act. The bill funds the operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), agencies whose aggressive presence in Minnesota in recent weeks led to the killing of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, the detention of children, refugees, and U.S. citizens, and caused both widespread fear and faith-filled resistance.  

The six ELCA bishops in the state of Minnesota wrote recently: “We know that all our neighbors bear the image of God… We also know there are voices around us that challenge the truth of who we are and who our neighbors are. It is our fervent hope that every one of us would remain deeply rooted in our identity as God’s beloved.” 

Ask Congress to protect our neighbors by prioritizing accountability for ICE, not additional funding for actions that are harming our communities.

Make your message to Congress more impactful by personalizing it below.

Note: This Action Alert is an update to an alert sent January 15, 2026 before the House vote.

Call your member of Congress. You can use the talking points in the action alert or ecumenical letter, with some framing highlighted below:

• Reforms to immigration enforcement are URGENT. Federal agents are committing violence in our communities with impunity and lack the oversight or accountabilitythat we need to protect our communities. Business as usual is not acceptable.
• We want to see meaningful policy changes, including [highlight the changes most important to you – i.e. end arrests without a warrant and racial profiling, require independent investigation into the killings of Good and Pretti, codify protections for our churches and sacred spaces from immigration enforcement]
• We don’t want an endless shutdown or patchwork continuing resolutions funding this agency in increments of days or weeks. Negotiate the protections that your constituents want to see and pass a funding bill through the end of Fiscal Year 2026.

Six weeks of live, free webinars will offer pragmatic and informative sessions to help faith and community leaders address needs emerging from disasters and other crises. Webinars are scheduled for Tuesdays, March 24 through April 28, 2026, 10:00 am – 11:30 AM Central time and are appropriate for all levels of experience and expertise.

One registration for all sessions: When you submit this registration, you are registering to receive webinar links and reminder emails for all webinars in this series. Attend as many you are available. For details and more information about webinars, go to the Webinar Hub at crisiscareministries.net.

Schedule at a glance, 10 AM – 11:30 AM Central (US and Canada):

• March 24, 2026 – “Calm in Crisis”
• March 31, 2026 – “Talk Saves Lives” (suicide prevention)
• April 7, 2026 – “Responding with Care: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Disaster Response for Diverse Communities”
• April 14, 2026 – “Risk and Protective Factors”
• April 21, 2026 – “Tools for Building Resilience”
• April 28, 2026 – “Emotional and Spiritual Care in Human-Caused Disasters”

Webinars will not be recorded.

Weekly bonus shared reflection time: Following each 90-minute webinar session, participants are invited to stay for a bonus 15-minute guided reflection led by the BELOVED Compassion Network (belovedcompassionnetwork.org) to strengthen our sense of grounding and connectedness with the Sacred Source of Compassion.  These contemplative practices will cultivate deeper compassion for self and others, for more compassionate and effective caregiving in disaster recovery.

This series is brought to you by collaborative organizations including: Church World Service, Crisis Care Ministries, International Orthodox Christian Charities, Lutheran Disaster Response, Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church, Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Prevention Division, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance – PC (USA), United Church of Christ, Week of Compassion, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), with additional support from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy

Are you looking for a Lenten resource? Check out the ELCA Sumud’s 2026 Lenten series, “Body of Christ”! This series lifts up Palestinian Christians as an inseparable and equal part of the Body of Christ, whose witness and oppression demand our attention and solidarity. View the resource HERE!