A federal judge in Maryland on Monday agreed to a request by several religious groups that collective asked the court to stop the Trump administration from making immigration-related arrests at their houses of worship. 

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang granted the request for a so-called preliminary injunction, or temporary pause, as the groups pursue their challenge to Trump's directive now allowing federal immigration authorities to conduct enforcement actions at places of worship, according to CBS News. 

President Trump upon retaking the White House reversed a Biden-era memo that barred immigration arrests at certain protected locations.

Chuang's order does not block the administration's policy nationwide and applies only to houses of worship owned or used by the challengers – the Quakers, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Sikh Temple.

The groups argue that undoing former Democrat President Joe Biden's policy will violate their First Amendment rights and seemed to suggest the Trump directive would scare followers away from services at houses of worship.

"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.