ACLU Report: 86 Enforcement Incidents at Schools, Hospitals, Shelters and Places of Worship

After the administration rescinded the “protected areas” policy in January 2025, the ACLU documented 86 incidents at locations prior administrations had shielded from enforcement: 49 on or near school grounds, nine at medical facilities, eight at homeless or domestic violence shelters and social service centers, eight at or near places of worship, and five at celebrations, parades and vigils. A further 171 incidents occurred at immigration and county courthouses and at ICE check-ins, where people were already complying with government orders. In New Mexico, agents waited in the parking lot of a domestic violence shelter on the first day of Domestic Violence Awareness Month and arrested a mother handing her daughter off to her abusive ex-partner. When the pastors of Downey Memorial Christian Church in California approached masked agents arresting a man in their parking lot, the agents refused to identify themselves; when Reverend Tanya Lopez shouted instructions in Spanish to the man being detained, an agent pointed a rifle at her. A reverend in California who confronted an agent making an arrest in his church parking lot was told, “The whole country is our property.”