As Trump administration launched an immigration enforcement blitz nationwide Sunday, law enforcement officials visited gurdwaras in New York and New Jersey to look for “illegal” immigrants, prompting a sharp reaction from Sikh organisations.
The action came as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revoked a Biden-era policy that prevented law enforcement officials from going in or near “sensitive” areas including places of worship.
READ: After H-1B, Trump’s MAGA supporters target OPT (January 7, 2025)
Gurdwaras in New York and New Jersey were reported targeted as they are allegedly being used as a hub by Sikh separatists along with illegal and undocumented immigrants. The move drew a sharp reaction from some Sikh organisations which see such actions as a threat to the sanctity of their faith.
The Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDF) said it was “deeply alarmed by the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to eliminate protections for sensitive areas and then target places of worship like gurdwaras.”
“This troubling shift in policy comes in tandem with community reports of DHS agents visiting gurdwaras in the New York and New Jersey areas just days after the directive was issued,” Kiran Kaur Gill, executive director of SALDEF, stated.
Gill said gurdwaras are not just places of worship; they are vital community centres that provide support, nourishment, and spiritual solace to Sikhs and the broader community. “Targeting these spaces for enforcement actions threatens the sanctity of our faith and sends a chilling message to immigrant communities nationwide,” she added.
Sikh Coalition said the Trump administration’s decision to rescind the DHS policy on “protected areas” (which also included hospitals, schools, social service providers, and more) opens the door to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducting surveillance, investigations, arrests, and raids at gurdwaras.”
“The idea that our gurdwaras could be subject to government surveillance and raids by armed law enforcement with or without warrants is unacceptable to the Sikh faith tradition. It will burden religious exercise by limiting the ability of Sikhs to gather and associate with one another in accordance with our faith,” Sikh Coalition said.
“It also harkens to dark periods in our collective memory when governments interfered in the ability of Sikhs to practice our faith freely-with deadly consequences,” it said. “If Sikhs-whether documented or undocumented-are concerned with gurdwara raids and surveillance, gurdwaras may well be impacted by decreased attendance, and thus an inability to carry out essential religious practices in a meaningful manner.”
Meanwhile, Sunday’s action that included multiple federal agencies resulted in the arrest of nearly 1,000 people, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE agents were joined Sunday by officials from multiple Justice Department agencies, includin the FBI; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the US Marshals Service, as they targeted what they said are public safety and national security threats.
The operation is expected to continue this week. White House ‘border czar’ Tom Homan called Sunday’s enforcement actions in Chicago “a good day” and a “gamechanger.”
“President Trump has put all of government on this issue,” he told CNN. Insisting, he didn’t impose a quota on ICE officers, Holman said, “My goal is to arrest as many public safety and national security threats as possible and move on to the other priorities.”
“We’re prioritizing criminal aliens,” he said. “There’s going to be a point where we have to open the aperture to fugitives.”
Nationwide, 956 people were arrested and “554 detainers (were) lodged” Sunday, ICE said in a post on X, marking the highest total since the agency started reporting them on the platform.
In addition to “enhanced targeted operations” announced by ICE in Chicago, immigration enforcement actions were also reported in the Atlanta area; Puerto Rico; Colorado; Los Angeles; and Austin, Texas.
Interior enforcement is expected to ramp up as administration officials try to execute the president’s deportation pledge. In the last fiscal year, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations conducted 113,431 administrative arrests, according to an agency report, amounting to about 310 arrests a day across all field offices.
The intensified immigration actions have prompted some Chicago-area migrants to avoid attending school or going to work, CNN reported citing a local non-profit.
READ: Trump 2.0 highlights growing influence of Indian Americans (January 20, 2025)
Immigrant advocacy groups in Chicago also filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the weekend arguing officials targeted the city for being a sanctuary jurisdiction — a term broadly applied to cities that have policies in place designed to limit cooperation with or involvement in federal immigration enforcement actions.
The groups claimed the administration’s planned operations targeted the city for its sanctuary status and amount to a violation of their First Amendment right to free speech and Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure, according to the court filing .