A federal judge has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to explain whether an undercover surveillance operation at a Minneapolis church violated a court injunction restricting federal immigration activity at places of worship, raising the prospect of contempt proceedings against the Trump administration.
U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV gave DHS until Aug. 28 to defend the operation at University Baptist Church, according to court filings reviewed by Baptist News. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 4 to determine whether the government's conduct crossed the boundaries established by an injunction Saylor issued in February.
The dispute centers on surveillance conducted as part of an initiative identified in government records as Operation Puppet Master. MPR News reported that federal operatives monitored the church property on multiple occasions, including an undercover encounter inside its gymnasium.
In May, an operative with Homeland Security Investigations entered the gym while a martial-arts class was underway, participated in sparring and secretly recorded conversations with a concealed audio device, according to records cited in the reports. After leaving the recording equipment behind, the operative returned about three minutes later to retrieve it.
Federal personnel also conducted surveillance from outside the property on at least two Sundays in April, spending hours photographing vehicles and checking license-plate registrations, according to the records. The activities have prompted church leaders to argue that federal authorities intruded into a space protected by the court's earlier order.
"This is a complete violation of our sacred space," Jean E. Lubke, a former president of University Baptist Church, said in a sworn declaration. Lubke argued that a house of worship should function as a place of sanctuary and safety.
Saylor's February preliminary injunction arose from litigation brought by religious organizations challenging the Trump administration's decision to loosen restrictions on immigration enforcement at sensitive locations, including churches. The plaintiffs argued that warrantless enforcement activity at houses of worship burdened religious exercise and discouraged people from attending services.
DHS has disputed the contention that the Minneapolis operation violated that order. Government lawyers said the undercover activity wasn't an immigration-enforcement action and instead formed part of a broader investigation into people and organizations suspected of supporting individuals who interfered with federal law enforcement.
Federal attorneys said investigators were examining suspected rioting and destruction of federal property. They also argued that activities taking place in the church gymnasium when the undercover operative entered weren't central to the congregation's religious mission at that particular time.
Attorneys representing the religious organizations reject that distinction. Their position is that federal agencies shouldn't be able to conduct operations on protected church property and then avoid restrictions by determining afterward that a particular room or activity wasn't sufficiently religious.
The surveillance followed an investigation that began in late January after the fatal shootings of two people in Minneapolis, according to the reports. The disclosures have broadened the legal dispute beyond traditional immigration raids by forcing the court to consider whether covert investigative activity can also fall within restrictions imposed on federal operations at houses of worship.
Saylor had warned about the potential consequences of the administration's revised enforcement policy when he issued the February injunction. He raised the prospect that, without judicial-warrant requirements, federal agents theoretically could enter a Sunday religious service with weapons drawn based largely on their own assessment of whether enforcement was justified.
