American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A. v. Meese

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

INTRODUCTION

Defendants Edwin Meese III, Attorney General of the United States, and Alan Nelson, Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, move to dismiss this case for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

BACKGROUND

This case is brought by two groups of plaintiffs, each of which asserts distinct and independent causes of action. The first group of plaintiffs is composed of various religious organizations, which sue on their own behalf and on behalf of their members. These organizations allege that, “as a matter of religious faith and practice, [they] have determined to offer sanctuary to persons from El Salvador and Guatemala.” Complaint If 1. They contend that the defendants’ prosecutions of religious sanctuary workers under 8 U.S.C. § 1324 (a), the criminal harboring and transporting statute, interferes unconstitutionally with their first amendment right to the free exercise of religion. They seek preliminary and permanent injunctions barring defendants from continuing or commencing any prosecutions of persons affiliated with the religious movement of sanctuary, as well as a declaratory judgment that such…