#DHS had restricted #immigration enforcement at “sensitive locations” for years. With some exceptions, agents had to obtain special approval for enforcement actions in certain places, including #schools, #hospitals, #churches & other places of #worship; #funerals, #weddings & other #religious ceremonies. In 2021, that list expanded to include other #HealthcareFacilities, #playgrounds, #SocialService facilities & #emergency response sites.

Judge Chang denied the plaintiffs’ request for a nationwide halt to #immigration enforcement in houses of worship. His order applies only to the #Quaker groups, the #Georgia-based #Baptist denomination & the #Sacramento-based #Sikh temple that sued.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chang on Monday levied a temporary #injunction blocking the #Trump admin’s order from taking effect as the lawsuit proceeds because he said the order could violate #ReligiousFreedom.

“Plaintiffs have provided evidence that the willingness of their congregants to attend worship & participate in ministry services is presently being chilled,” Chang wrote.

ICE uses several databases & govt records to track down targets.

…Mellissa Harper, a former #ICE official who now heads #ORR, told a staff meeting on Thurs that the agency plans to use #DNA tests to establish familial relationships, one of the sources said. It was unclear whether DNA tests would be used only on cases that raised a red flag, or on a routine basis.

In the memo, #ICE said it had collected data from a number of sources on unaccompanied #minors & sorted them into 3 priority groups, "flight risk", "public safety" & "border security."

It directed agents to focus on #children deemed “flight risks” - including those ordered deported for missing court hearings & those released to sponsors who are not blood relatives.

As well as enforcing #immigration laws, the memo, headlined the “Unaccompanied Alien Children Joint Initiative Field Implementation,” said the initiative aims to ensure that #children are not victims of #HumanTrafficking or other forms of #exploitation.

The memo said the children would be served a notice to appear in immigration court or deported, if #deportation orders were pending against them.

The #FamilySeparation policy, including #babies from nursing #mothers, was met w/widespread international outrage. #Trump halted the policy in 2018, though up to 1,000 #children may still remain separated from parents, per Lee Gelernt, the lead #ACLU atty in a related legal challenge.

During his first term, #Trump introduced a "zero tolerance" policy that led to the separation of migrant #children from their parents at the #border. The children were sent to children's shelters run by the Office of #Refugee Resettlement (ORR), a government agency housed within the #HHS, while their parents were detained or deported.

>600,000 immigrant #children have crossed the #US - #Mexico border without a parent or legal guardian since 2019, acc/to government data, as the number of migrants caught crossing illegally reached record levels.

Tens of thousands have been ordered deported over the same time frame, including >31,000 for missing court hearings, #immigration court data show.

The #Immigration and Customs Enforcement [#ICE] memo outlines an unprecedented push to target migrant #children who crossed the border illegally as unaccompanied #minors. It lays out 4 phases of implementation, beginning with a planning phase on January 27, though it did not provide a start date for enforcement operations.

Other court decisions have also blocked the #Trump admin from carrying out its plan to virtually dismantle the #USAID, the main govt org that provides #humanitarian aid, & put its employees on administrative leave.

In his 15-pg ruling, Judge Ali said that the plaintiffs — a coalition of #aid groups, businesses, & health & media nonprofits — had “made a strong preliminary showing of irreparable harm.”

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.277336/gov.uscourts.dcd.277336.21.0_4.pdf

In response, Judge Ali, a Biden appointee, issued a temporary #injunction saying that the #Trump admin could not freeze #ForeignAid spending that predates Trump’s inauguration, nor could it fire or suspend workers associated w/those spending projects.

The ruling reverses a decision that had thrown into turmoil programs that provide #shelter for millions of people & fight #hunger & #illness around the globe.

The #Trump admin is pushing to ramp up #detention space, a move that could work in conjunction with the #AlienEnemiesAct.

Trump last week ordered the expansion of a migrant detention site in #Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hold up to 30k people. #Military ofcls said they would set up a detention site on a space base in Aurora, Colorado, a city Trump has portrayed as controlled by migrant gangs despite pushback from local leaders.

The directive is part of a broader freeze on #ForeignAid initiated last week. It includes the President’s Emergency Plan for #AIDS Relief, the global #health program started by George W. Bush that is credited w/saving >25M lives worldwide.

The #Trump admin had already moved to stop #PEPFAR funding from moving to #clinics, #hospitals & other organizations in low-income countries.