An Orange County religious nonprofit that was penalized and threatened with criminal prosecution by Santa Ana for feeding homeless people now has the support of the U.S. Department of Justice in its ongoing legal battle with the city.
Santa Ana’s denial of the occupancy license for the Micah’s Way resource center also placed a “substantial burden” on the organization’s religious expression in violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which bars governments from imposing land use rules that interfere with religious exercise, the department said.Video shows ex-San Francisco Fire Commissioner Don Carmignani being struck in the head with a metal pipe.
“Many faith-based organizations across the country are on the front lines serving the needs of people experiencing homelessness,” Assistant Atty. Gen. Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “The Justice Department is committed to enforcing federal civil rights laws to ensure that all religious groups can freely exercise their religious beliefs.
Micah’s Way applied for the certificate a second time but was again denied last summer on the grounds that its food distribution practices were not permitted in the “professional district” that the resource center occupied.California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has launched a civil rights investigation into the Antioch Police Department. Reports detail bigoted messages.
In a statement to The Times, Santa Ana officials said the city “fully supports the expression of religious beliefs as well as helping those in need, as shown by the operation of our, hosting the County of Orange’s homeless shelter, and funding homeless outreach teams.”
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