Rev. Kaji Douša, senior pastor of New York City's Park Avenue Christian Church, has filed suit against the federal government claiming that she has been targeted for ministering to migrants at the southern border and in Mexico. The complaint (
full text) in
Dousa v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, (SD CA, filed 7/8/2019) alleges in part:
11. In New York, regional ICE officials tracked rallies and prayer vigils led by Pastor Dousa on a list that the officials compiled of so-called “Anti-Trump Protests.” These officials marked Pastor Dousa for surveillance because she prayed with and for immigrants, and because she generated publicity about the devastation that ICE’s enforcement activities rain on immigrants and their families.
12. Then, in January, Defendants detained Pastor Dousa as she attempted to re-enter this nation, her nation, after a day in Tijuana ministering to migrants and their advocates. Border agents interrogated Pastor Dousa about her pastoral work.... They revealed to Pastor Dousa that they had collected detailed information about her and her pastoral work. And they revoked the access she had previously been granted to expedited border crossing.
13. Pastor Dousa’s name is included in a secret government database of journalists, attorneys, immigrant-rights activists, and others targeted for their work with and for migrants....
Alleging violations of the First Amendment and RFRA, the complaint explains:
Defendants’ targeting of Pastor Dousa impedes her ministry, through and through. It burdens her ability to continue answering God’s call to minister to migrants and refugees, which cannot happen without confidence in confidentiality.... Defendants’ targeting of Pastor Dousa has further forced her to take steps contrary to her faith and to forgo activities that her faith requires, including all but ending her ministry of pastoral care at the Southern Border....
Religion News Service reports on the lawsuit.
