Religious leaders and members gather in downtown Tucson on Feb. 13, 2025 to express support for the immigrant community.Randy Mayer, pastor of the Good Shepherd United Church of Christ in Sahuarita, said allowing immigration enforcement in places of worship goes against religious freedom.
“It's very core to our religious traditions that we're able to practice freely and not have interference from the government," he said. "And you know, once you start that, it's a very slippery slope where they begin to dictate how you worship, who can worship with you. Once they say that they can come into anywhere in your buildings and begin asking people for documents, it becomes very unsafe.”
So far there haven’t been reports of agents arresting people in churches in Tucson.
Twenty-seven Christian and Jewish groups around the U.S., including in Arizona, are suing the Trump administration for making it easier for immigration agents to make arrests in houses of worship.
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