Detained at church

In mid-June, armed federal agents in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey allegedly waved a rifle at a pastor while arresting a man outside a church in what appeared to be an immigration raid. Elsewhere in the city, agents detained a grandfather as he dropped his granddaughter off at a Catholic school. And the next day, in Oregon, agents arrested a man outside an Episcopal church.

A coalition of 11 religious groups cited those instances and others in a July 28 lawsuit against the Trump administration. It is the third legal filing challenging a recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy change that allows agents to make arrests at churches, schools, or hospitals.

Two legal advocacy groups filed the challenge in federal court on behalf of religious organizations that include the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the American Baptist Churches USA. “Churches have seen both attendance and financial giving plummet” due to the threat of “sur­veillance, interrogation, or arrest” of immigrant congregants, the suit claims.

The Trump administration has argued it threw out the restrictions to prevent criminals from using sensitive locations as safe havens, not to target immigrant churchgoers.

Is An Alligator Alcatraz coming to your state?

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced in July it will offer $608 million in grant money to states willing to construct migrant detention centers. The initiative will divert money from FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program, which the government launched in 2023 to assist states with managing the mass influx of migrants.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said his state has already requested FEMA money as reimbursement for maintaining the center in the Everglades known as Alligator Alcatraz. After his visit to the Florida facility, President Donald Trump said he would like to see similar centers constructed across the country.

Construction on a tent city able to house 5,000 immigrants is already underway at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. And in Indiana, officials plan to repurpose a prison as a migrant detention center dubbed the “Speedway Slammer.” —A.O.

Associated Press / Photo by Eric Gay

Deportation acceleration

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is on track to deport more than 300,000 immigrants this year, according to figures obtained by CBS News. That rivals ICE’s nearly 316,000 removals in 2014 under former President Barack Obama. Counting both ICE and other Department of Homeland Security branches, the Obama administration deported more than 5 million immigrants (including voluntary “returns”) over eight years. By comparison, President Donald Trump removed roughly 1.5 million immigrants from the country between 2017 and 2021, George W. Bush removed 10 million, and Bill Clinton removed 12 million. —A.O.