Trump admin must prove it didn’t violate injunction against Baptist church

The Trump administration must prove to a federal judge that its surveillance of a Baptist church and other congregations did not violate an injunction barring the government’s clandestine efforts.

U.S. District Judge Dennis Saylor in Massachusetts scheduled a Sept. 4 video hearing to determine if the Department of Homeland Security violated his February restraining order exempting plaintiffs in New England Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, et al., v. DHS from immigration enforcement actions on or near their properties as the lawsuit progresses.

But in court documents filed last month, DHS acknowledged spying on Baptist, Episcopal, Lutheran and Unitarian Universalist congregations in Minnesota’s Twin Cities and on another Lutheran parish in Michigan. The operation was part of an investigation and eventual criminal case against 15 activists who protested President Donald Trump’s violent anti-immigrant campaign in Minnesota. Read full story on Baptist News.