DHS has begun visiting the gurudwaras in New York and New Jersey as part of the significant increase in efforts by the Trump administration to find undocumented immigrants. Amidst the criticism over this controversial move by Sikh organizations, they see it as a desecration of the sanctity of their religious space.
It was in response to reports that a few undocumented immigrants and individuals who support Sikh separatism may have taken refuge there. The new policy was issued not long after Donald Trump began his term as president, thereby altering the tone of immigration enforcement.
Acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued a directive that reversed the previous guidelines limiting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from taking enforcement actions in “sensitive areas,” such as places of worship. This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens — including murderers and rapists — who have illegally come into our country. Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest, a DHS spokesperson said to rationalize it.
Sikh organizations, among them the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) and the Sikh Coalition, have criticized the new policies. Expressing the concern, Saldef’s executive director, Kiran Kaur Gill, said, “This alarming policy shift is taking place concurrently with reports from the community about DHS agents visiting gurdwaras in the New York and New Jersey region within days of this directive.” According to Gill, gurudwaras represent not just places of worship but more importantly places of the community that provide spiritual and material support. “Targeting these community spaces for enforcement actions endangers the sanctity of our faith and chills a warning message to immigrant communities across the country,” Gill concluded.
The Sikh Coalition also underlined the bigger implications of this policy change. It now allows ICE to perform surveillance, investigations, arrests, and raids in previously off-limits areas, like hospitals, schools, and social service providers. They threatened, “The notion that our gurdwaras could be subject to government surveillance and raids by armed law enforcement with or without warrants is an affront to the Sikh faith tradition.”. It will burden religious exercise by limiting the ability of Sikhs to gather and associate with one another in accordance with our faith.”.
The group further noted that this shift evokes historical instances where government interference in religious practices led to devastating consequences for the Sikh community.