Greenbelt, Maryland - A federal judge on Monday blocked US agents from conducting immigration raids and arrests at some religious sites of worship.

Quakers, along with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Sikh Temple, filed suit after the Trump administration's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) nixed a policy barring immigration raids in churches, schools, hospitals, and other locations deemed "sensitive."

US District Judge Theodore Chuang granted a preliminary injunction on DHS' new directive, arguing it might violate the plaintiffs' right to the free exercise of their religion.

"Where plaintiffs' communal religious exercise will be significantly and adversely affected by reductions in attendance resulting from immigration enforcement actions pursuant to the 2025 policy, armed law enforcement officers operating in or at places of worship pursuant to the 2025 policy will adversely affect the ability of Quakers and Sikhs to follow their religious beliefs or worship freely," Chuang wrote in his opinion.

Melania Trump Melania Trump returns to the White House after vanishing for weeks

The plaintiffs had argued that the new directive was making many immigrants – regardless of their legal status – fearful of attending religious services.

"Plaintiffs have thus shown that religious exercise is being hindered by the 2025 policy for entire congregations, including United States citizens and immigrants with legal status, whose ability to worship is undermined by such reduced participation," Chuang wrote.

The judge's ruling only applies to the groups that filed the lawsuit. US immigration officials may continue to conduct enforcement actions at other houses of worship.