A South Dakota Senate Judiciary Committee hearing will be held on Tuesday to discuss a bill that would change penalties for preventing the practice of religion.
The bill would change the penalty for using threats or violence to prevent the practice of religion from a misdemeanor to a class 6 felony. It would allow the action to be punishable by up to two years in prison and a $4,000 fine.
Governor Larry Rhoden said images from an ICE protest in a St. Paul's church that disrupted the service encouraged him to take action.
Rhoden said he has spoken with Willam Graham who supports the bill and is a name-brand faith leader.
Some state religious leaders have expressed their frustration that Rhoden didn’t consult them before supporting the proposal.
Reverend Jean Morrow, Chair of the South Dakota Faith in Public Life, said she would have appreciated that before bringing the bill about churches, so there could have been a conversation between faith leaders and lawmakers about whether or not the bill is necessary.
*Additionally, almost 600 people participated in a training event over the weekend in Iowa to learn how to respond to ICE activity. The event in Cedar Rapids included information on documenting arrests and developing rapid response strategies.
The training was hosted by an immigrants’ rights group, and held at St. Paul’s Methodist Church.
Reverend Jonathan Heifner of the church said the event had two main goals: building relationships, and making sure people know their rights.
“We don’t want anybody to get hurt. We didn’t want anybody to be in a situation they didn’t want to be, and so the education of this is about knowing what we can do and knowing what the limits are,” he said.
Videos of the training circulating online have prompted calls from conservative social media influencers for the church to lose its tax-exempt status. Heifner says nothing in the training threatened the church’s status.
