In 2025, Gilbert LLP joined with Democracy Forward and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs to file a lawsuit on behalf of a wide range of religious groups over the Trump-Vance Administration’s rescission of long-standing policies prohibiting immigration enforcement activities at houses of worship and other facilities used by religious organizations in furtherance of their religious activities.
The lawsuit argues that Department of Homeland Security has abandoned the long-standing protections against immigration enforcement at houses of worship and other sensitive locations in violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”), and the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”).
On February 13, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued an order temporarily enjoining the Trump administration policy. The Court granted preliminary injunctive relief with respect to the vast majority of the plaintiffs in the case. In its Order, the Court stated: “The prospect that a street-level law-enforcement agent—acting without a judicial warrant and with little or no supervisory control—could conduct a raid during a church service, or lie in wait to interrogate or seize congregants as they seek to enter a church, is profoundly troubling.”
Gilbert believes that the First Amendment is the cornerstone of American democracy and protects the sanctity of worship, which is the very essence of religious freedom.