Feds plan holiday season raids on Spanish-speaking churches: report

Multiple federal agencies are planning a nationwide crackdown on Spanish-speaking churches during the upcoming holiday season, according to three sources in the U.S. Department of Justice.

DOJ attorneys assigned to U.S. attorney's offices in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York told This Week in Worcester they had received briefings on a plan involving operations at churches between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day carried out by agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).

"The attorney in the Massachusetts office said that they attend a Baptist church in Massachusetts and is a registered Republican," the outlet reported. "He said that he does not see how this plan is in line with either American values or Biblical doctrine. The attorney in the Rhode Island office confirmed both the briefing and internal discussions about the legal issues surrounding arrests at churches over the past three months."

"The attorney in the New York office spoke in depth about the plan being recently updated to include mosques and liberal synagogues in the wake of Zohran Mamdani’s recent win in the New York City mayor’s race," the report added.

Protestant church leaders told This Week in Worcester that two pastors close to Trump – televangelists Paula White and Mark Burns – have given their approval to the plan, but the Trump administration has not approached Franklin Graham about the operation, and several people close to the evangelical minister say he would not likely endorse it.

"[Two of the] attorneys also said that the Trump administration is pushing high-ranking Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) officials for public support of the plan, including Hispanic pastors," This Week in Worcester reported. "Two Hispanic pastors who lead Southern Baptist churches in New England say that SBC President Clint Pressley and its executive board received briefings on the plan and discussed it with Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller and White House Border Czar Tom Homan."

"An SBC representative says neither Pressley nor its executive committee received any briefing on the plan," the report added.

A third Hispanic pastor who leads a Pentecostal denomination in New England told the outlet that ICE agents and a person who identified themselves as an FBI agent have paid visits to his church asking questions about individual congregants, including how often they attend services.

"One of the attorneys said part of the operational plan involves undercover ICE and FBI agents attending and documenting church security plans," the outlet reported. "Groups like Elite Defense Training [in Leominster] teach volunteer church members how to handle individuals who disrupt church services and to manage scenarios like active-shooters or medical emergencies. Most churches with security plans eventually file those plans with local police and fire departments."

"Massachusetts state law enables local law enforcement agencies to decline providing support to ICE," the report added. "This likely leaves these security plans outside the reach of federal agencies."