Sanctuary movement leaders sue U.S., claiming religious rights violated By (0) Communities and congregations around the country, some spurred to action by anti-immigrant rhetoric in 2016, are working together to assist immigrants who are fighting deportation. File Photo by Justin Hamel/UPI | License Photo Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Four women who came to the United States seeking asylum from persecution in their home countries allege in a federal lawsuit that Trump administration officials targeted them with exorbitant civil fines because they took sanctuary in churches and spoke out against "unjust and punitive" deportation orders. The Austin Sanctuary Network in Texas and the Philadelphia-based Free Migration Project also are plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 19, the day before President Joe Biden took the oath of office. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are named as defendants.