Schools, Places of Worship, Nonprofit Service Providers and Healthcare Settings Must Remain Safe from Immigration Enforcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2025
Contact: marketing@mdnonprofit.org | (410) 727-6367

Maryland Nonprofits and Maryland Latinos Unidos uphold the principle that previously protected areas must remain safe from immigration enforcement, for the good of community health and safety.  We strongly oppose the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) recent reversal of its longstanding policy restricting immigration enforcement in protected areas, including nonprofit service centers, places of worship, schools, and healthcare facilities. Using these safe places for enforcement undermines trust, disrupts essential services, and endangers public safety.

For more than three decades, DHS recognized that conducting immigration enforcement in these spaces would deter people from seeking critical nonprofit services, jeopardizing both individual well-being and public health.

Vital Services Must Be Protected

People in need will not seek support if they fear that entering a nonprofit’s facility could put them at risk. Using these facilities for enforcement  will lead to:

• Increased food insecurity as families avoid pantries out of fear,
• Children falling behind in their education as they stay home from school out of fear,
• Reduced healthcare access, including mental health services,
• Higher risk of homelessness due to fear of seeking housing aid, and
• Economic instability as individuals avoid job training programs.

Nonprofit and public services must be available to everyone, and be safe for people to access. Forcing nonprofit staff and volunteers into a position where they must either discriminate based on immigration status or risk violating their ethical commitment to community service is both unreasonable and unjust. This policy destabilizes entire communities and Maryland’s nonprofit programs that serve them.

Call to Action

Maryland Nonprofits and Maryland Latinos Unidos are pleased to see that there has been some limited relief in the courts in support of protecting safe spaces.  We support all lawful means to challenge this harmful policy. The plaintiffs—including nonprofits in Maryland—rightly argue that this policy change violates religious freedom protections under the First Amendment and Religious Freedom Restoration Act and is arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act.

The Administration must immediately reinstate community protections to avoid unnecessary harm caused by immigration enforcement actions at or near protected areas. We urge Congress to pass legislation to expressly prohibit immigration enforcement in protected areas, including nonprofit service providers, schools, healthcare setting and places of worship.

We also urge state and local governments in Maryland to do all they can to keep protected areas safe. No family should have to choose between accessing food, education, healthcare, or housing and the fear of deportation. No nonprofit should have to operate under the threat of government intrusion that undermines its legal mission.

Maryland Nonprofits and Maryland Latinos Unidos remain committed to ensuring that all nonprofits can continue to serve their communities without illegal government interference.