Some states are attempting to push through legislation that would increase the penalty for disrupting religious services at places of worship, with buffer zones around churches also being considered in some states.

The move to tighten security follows the disruption of a church service in Minnesota in January that was being presided over by a pastor who is also an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer. The protesters were demanding justice for Christian mother Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE agent earlier that month.

Thirty-seven-year-old Alex Pretti also died after being shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis a few days later.

Idaho, Alabama, Ohio, and South Dakota are among the states pushing to toughen legislation. Tex Fischer, the Republican state representative for Ohio, recently introduced a bill that would raise the penalty for protesters who disturb religious worship from a first-degree misdemeanor to a fifth-degree felony.

He told U.S. publication Stateline that he wants to deter protesters from using places of worship as backdrops for “political theatre” and said his proposal is about “letting people feel comfortable and safe being able to practice their religion within the walls of their own church or synagogue or mosque, without having to worry about their service getting crashed by a bunch of people chanting, regardless of what their point is.”

It comes as the state of Oklahoma, together with the New York governor and the chair of the New York City Council, also wants to create buffer zones around places of worship.

However, critics of the proposals say any change would be a violation of freedom of speech and the right to protest. The director of the Free Speech Center at Tennessee State University, Ken Paulson, told Stateline the legislation was “completely unnecessary and has to be motivated by political concerns, because the law is already clear. If someone enters onto private property and refuses to leave when you ask them to leave, they can be charged for trespassing. The fact that it occurs in a church is no different than if it occurs in a movie theater or any other privately owned setting to which the public is invited.”