Justice Department Probes Anti-ICE Protest That Halted a St. Paul Church Service

The Justice Department said Sunday it is investigating a protest that interrupted a worship service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, raising the question of whether demonstrators violated a federal law that protects people exercising their religion at places of worship. Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, said on X that the department was looking into possible violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, known as the FACE Act, for what she called “desecrating a house of worship,” NBC News reported.

Religion News Service reported that 30 to 40 protesters entered the church, a Southern Baptist congregation, and that most had left by the time officers arrived at about 10:40 a.m. local time. The St. Paul Police Department is treating it as an active disorderly conduct case, according to the report. A livestream from Black Lives Matter Minnesota showed protesters chanting “ICE out” and invoking Renee Good, NBC News reported. Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, according to NBC; the administration has said the officer acted in self-defense.

Fox 9 reported that the Racial Justice Network, led by activists Nekima Levy Armstrong and Monique Cullers, marched into the church. The protesters said they targeted the congregation because David Easterwood, a pastor there, is also an ICE official, according to the activists; Fox 9 attributed that claim to them. RNS reported that Easterwood has denied allegations in a federal lawsuit. Levy Armstrong said she was angered by a video of Easterwood defending his ICE work. “I don’t understand how as a pastor he thinks that that’s acceptable,” she told RNS.

Don Lemon, a former CNN journalist, reported from inside the church and interviewed a pastor who asked him to leave unless he was there to worship, NBC News reported. “We’re not part of the activists, but we’re here just reporting on them,” Lemon said.

The FACE Act, enacted in 1994, bars obstructing access to reproductive health services and also bars interfering with people exercising religious freedom at places of worship, according to NBC News. Fox 9 reported that church officials said the group frightened children and intimidated congregants.

Protest organizers framed their action differently. Cullers told Fox 9 that the protest was “a correction,” not an “insurrection,” and that protesters entered “in peace.” Their stated aim, according to RNS, was to disrupt the service in opposition to Easterwood’s role with ICE.

Legal experts see a narrower question. John Greil, a law professor quoted by RNS, said videos appear to show intimidation of worshippers and that the church could have grounds to sue for trespassing. He noted that First Amendment protection for protest generally applies to public forums such as sidewalks, not to private property.

The incident comes amid a major federal immigration enforcement presence in the Twin Cities and a wave of protests that followed Good’s death. The Southern Baptist Convention’s president, Clint Pressley, called the scene “just unbelievable,” RNS reported, while the Baptist Joint Committee criticized the administration’s immigration policies in a statement.