An earlier version of this article was first published in the On the Trail 2024 newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox on Friday mornings here.
Hello, friends. The first week of President Donald Trump’s second term is almost in the books. To date, Trump has been quite effective at living up to his promises — from pardoning Jan. 6 criminals, to exiting the Paris climate treaty, to making sweeping changes to immigration policy.
We’ll focus on one of those immigration-related changes today — one that has faith groups nervous.
The big idea
Trump admin open to arresting migrants in churches
Trump wasted little time in pushing forward his immigration plans. Within hours of taking the oath of office Monday, he signed a flurry of executive orders that closed the U.S. to refugees, cracked down on undocumented immigrants with criminal backgrounds and challenged what it means to be “American.”
Some of the executive orders have serious implications for immigration policy; others are unlikely to pass legal muster. Trump’s efforts to redefine birthright citizenship, for example, was blocked by a federal judge Thursday, who called it “blatantly unconstitutional.”
“This is branding,” Charles Kuck, the former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told me. “It’s meant to cause panic, meant to cause fear in the population.”
Kuck said his phone has been pinging in recent days with clients worried about whether their children will be U.S. citizens. He said he told them not to worry — “I don’t think there are four Supreme Court justices who will agree to hear this case,” Kuck said. He is, however concerned about a number of other changes Trump made: green-lighting expedited removal within the U.S.; reinstating the registration requirements in the Alien Registration Act; ending humanitarian parole for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, and what happens to those who have work permits.
Kuck, and the tens of thousands of immigration attorneys across the country, will have their work cut out for them in sorting through these changes and defending their clients.

But a much different issue is at the forefront of faith leaders’ minds. On Monday, as Trump was signing stacks of executive orders, the Department of Homeland Security quietly made a change that is causing concern for churches and other religious groups: law enforcement can now make immigration arrests within or near places of worship.
For generations, churches have been seen as sanctuaries for those fleeing persecution. Prior to Trump’s first term, DHS policy deemed churches, schools and hospitals “sensitive locations,” and immigration-related arrests were not to take place there, except in extreme circumstances.
The directive from the acting DHS secretary Monday reversed that longstanding policy, suggesting that dangerous immigrants — “including murders and rapists” — were exploiting the policy.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” a DHS spokesperson said. “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
Because the practice of respecting “sensitive locations” was a matter of agency practice, not federal immigration policy, the act came directly from the DHS secretary, not from Trump’s pen. But the policy change has serious repercussions for many faith groups.
A group of 10 Arizona clergy published an op-ed declaring the change would violate religious liberty protections, noting that “undocumented persons might be intimidated from going to a church and thereby exercising their right to the practice of religion.” The Rev. Dr. Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, said the change “sends a chill up our spine.”
Many of the details of how DHS will implement these changes are unknown, and some are attempting to temper concerns. “My guess is this is more for show than for action,” said Stewart Verdery, a former DHS assistant secretary, during a National Immigration Forum webinar Wednesday. “They’ll probably find one or two cases to make an example of somebody — somebody who’s a violent criminal or something like that."

But the idea of any raids inside churches disturbs some clergy members. “We’re not policy wonks. We’re pastors,” Salguero, pastor of The Gathering Place Church in Orlando, told me. “We’re called to love people.”
The policy has affected schools, too. The Salt Lake City School District sent out a mass email to families this week, reminding them that the district does not collect legal statuses and “will not initiate engagement with federal immigration authorities for the purpose of sharing student information.”
“Please know that your child — and every child, regardless of immigration status — is welcome in our schools,” the email said.
During the first Trump administration, there were several high-profile cases where churches served as safe spaces for undocumented individuals. In Salt Lake City, a single mother from Honduras lived inside the First Unitarian Church for several years with her young daughters.
That may no longer be an option for churches. “In those communities, they’re very concerned, and they are very worried,” Jennie Murray, president and CEO of the National Immigration Forum, said. “Will folks show up in our church parking lots after worship and collect and collect our members? Will they separate families right on the premises?”
3 things to know
- Trump’s inaugural address Monday declared that the “golden age of America begins right now.” He painted a dark picture of a nation in decline, facing a “crisis of trust” and pillaged by a “radical and corrupt establishment.” His own return to the Oval Office would be the solution, he promised, on the back of his immigration, trade, energy, climate and social policies. Read more here.
- Trump signed executive orders each day this week, ranging from the procedural (in-person work for federal employees) to the controversial (pardons for Jan. 6 rioters). Read more here.
- The Justice Department is threatening to prosecute local and state officials who do not participate in the Trump admin’s immigration regime. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has pledged his state’s support to the effort, but in an interview this week, he questioned whether the scope of Trump’s promised deportations is feasible: “The ability of us to deport 10, 20 million people, it’s just not a practical thing.” Read more here.
Weekend reads
When Trump slaps tariffs on our trading partners worldwide, how will they respond? This region-by-region breakdown of our top trade allies is very helpful. Our closest partners — Canada and Mexico — are most on edge. Escalate to de-escalate: How the world will deal with Trump’s trade offensive (Politico)
Yes, TikTok is consuming the news. But it was another influencer economy that earned him the White House. By making the podcast circuit and hanging with YouTubers, Trump tapped into a group of young, male voters that no other presidential candidate has. The Second Trump Presidency, Brought to You by YouTubers (Bloomberg)
Trump took credit for last week’s Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. But many of Trump’s top supporters in Israel thought the deal was horrible, and it may have frayed relationships with some. Israeli right still hopeful about Trump presidency despite ‘terrible’ cease-fire deal (Jewish Insider)
BONUS: It’s worth your time to read Tom Christofferson on the Inaugural Prayer Service (here), and to watch a Latter-day Saint leader participate in the ceremony (here).