American Atheists filed a federal lawsuit against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Tuesday, accusing the agency of illegally withholding records that could show how it polices religious organizations that bring foreign workers into the country on R-1 visas. The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Camden, comes after what the organization describes as nearly four years of agency delays in responding to its public records request.
The lawsuit, docketed as Case No. 2:26-cv-13622, challenges USCIS's failure to resolve a July 2026 administrative appeal over the agency's handling of oversight files for R-1 visa employers, according to Immigration Analytics. American Atheists says it first submitted its Freedom of Information Act request in 2022, after public reporting surfaced allegations of labor trafficking by religious employers using the visa program. The group is asking a judge to order USCIS to conduct a complete search and turn over all records tied to its request, according to American Atheists.
What the Redacted Spreadsheet Revealed
The original FOIA request sought inspection records for R-1 visa employers covering January 2018 through January 2020. Instead, USCIS produced only a single heavily redacted spreadsheet on April 9, 2026, covering roughly 6,000 visa holders and flagging deficiency types including “material misrepresentation,” without releasing the underlying investigative files, per the same report from Immigration Analytics. American Atheists argues the spreadsheet itself proves that detailed compliance records exist, and that USCIS has offered no justification for withholding them.
Geoffrey T. Blackwell, legal director for American Atheists, said the Freedom of Information Act allows Americans to demand government transparency and accountability, and argued the administration is flouting the law while enabling the abuse of vulnerable people by religious groups. Nick Fish, president of American Atheists, said the R-1 visa program has operated without adequate oversight, allowing faith-based entities to abuse and exploit workers. Fish added that his organization would act if the federal government failed to do its job.
The Robbinsville Temple Case Looms Large
Much of the urgency behind the lawsuit traces back to allegations involving the BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham temple in Robbinsville, New Jersey, a Hindu denomination with a substantial presence in the state. Indian nationals sued BAPS in 2021, alleging the organization used R-1 visas to bring them to the United States, confiscated their passports and documents, forced them to build the Robbinsville temple, and paid them $1.20 an hour, according to the lawsuit allegations. The FBI conducted a years-long inquiry into those claims, but in September 2025 the Trump administration closed the investigation without filing charges, a move that allowed the workers' 2021 civil lawsuit to resume in federal court, as reported by Religion News Service. BAPS temple leaders have denied wrongdoing and maintained that the construction work was voluntary religious service.
Court filings and reporting from April 2026 described severe occupational exposure among the Indian stonecutters brought to build the Robbinsville temple, including at least two worker deaths from silicosis, an incurable lung disease caused by silica dust, according to The Guardian. The R-1 program has also been linked to allegations of labor exploitation.
A Program Built on a History of Fraud
Federal regulators have long flagged the R-1 category as unusually vulnerable. When the Department of Homeland Security revised religious worker regulations in November 2008, it published a Benefit Fraud Assessment that identified a 33% fraud rate in the special immigrant religious worker program, a finding that originally justified mandatory site inspection requirements, according to the Federal Register. Under 8 CFR § 214.2(r)(16), USCIS has authority to conduct on-site inspections of religious organizations.
But in March 2023, USCIS modified its internal Policy Manual guidance to eliminate mandatory pre-approval site inspections for all religious worker petitioners, shifting instead to random post-approval site visits and discretionary compliance referrals, according to USCIS. The change came not long after American Atheists filed its original FOIA request. A February 2026 Government Accountability Office report delivered to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration found that USCIS's Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate lacks a standardized process for conducting regular fraud risk assessments across immigration benefit programs, and had failed to evaluate the efficiency of its existing anti-fraud activities.
Visa Rules Shifted Even as Records Stayed Sealed
The regulatory landscape around R-1 visas has continued to evolve even as the FOIA dispute dragged on. Under 8 CFR § 214.2(r), the visas permit a maximum stay of five years, split between an initial 30-month grant and one 30-month extension.
American Atheists is a New Jersey nonprofit that advocates for separation of religion and government. The case is proceeding in New Jersey federal court.
