Civil Immigration Arrests in Houses of Worship

The American Council urges every Pennsylvania legislator to vote yes on HB2376. This bill establishes a clear and enforceable rule: no federal, state, or local law enforcement representative may detain, arrest, or otherwise take a person into custody on the property of a house of worship on the basis of immigration enforcement, unless that officer personally possesses a judicial warrant that clearly names the individual to be arrested. That single protection, grounded in Facts 1 and 2, restores something the church has always understood: the place of worship must be a place of safety.

The bill defines its terms with precision, and that precision matters. A judicial warrant under HB2376 means a written order signed by a federal Article III judge or a state court judge directing the arrest of a specifically named person. Administrative immigration warrants do not qualify. This definition, drawn from Fact 10, closes the gap that has allowed enforcement actions at churches, synagogues, and mosques to proceed on paperwork that no neutral judicial officer has reviewed. The bill's definition of house of worship is equally broad and inclusive, covering any facility or place used for religious worship or other religious purpose, as established in Fact 6.

Accountability is built into the bill. Any law enforcement representative who does carry out an immigration arrest on house-of-worship property under the narrow judicial-warrant exception must show that documentation to any individual who requests to review it. Violations carry a civil penalty of $10,000 per offense, paid to the Commonwealth. These provisions, supported by Facts 3 and 5, mean the rule is not merely aspirational. It carries real consequence for those who disregard it.

The bill also prevents state and local law enforcement from using state-appropriated money or resources to conduct immigration enforcement, as stated in Fact 4. We believe this is a matter of faithful stewardship of public resources. Pennsylvania taxpayers fund local police to serve and protect their communities. Redirecting those resources toward civil immigration enforcement diverts them from that core mission and places local agencies in the middle of a federal function that belongs to the federal government.

People of faith gather in houses of worship to pray, to receive counsel, to mourn, to celebrate, and to serve their neighbors. When the threat of arrest shadows the entrance to a church or mosque, attendance drops, ministries shrink, and the community suffers. HB2376 does not ask government to ignore the law. It asks government to respect the sacred character of the spaces where people meet God, and to require the procedural safeguard of a judicial warrant before any arrest can occur there. The American Council believes that is a reasonable, principled, and constitutionally grounded line to draw. We ask every member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly to draw it with us by passing HB2376.