A Sunday morning church service within the Twin Cities interrupted by anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters is the newest flash level in escalating tensions between the Trump administration and demonstrators in Minnesota.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who oversees the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, introduced an investigation inside hours, calling the protesters’ actions “desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshippers.”
“Attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law,” Attorney General Pam Bondi posted to X late Sunday evening.
Dozens of individuals rushed into Cities Church in St. Paul Sunday morning, interrupting the church service and resulting in tense confrontations, videos posted by activists and content creators present. The Saint Paul Police Department mentioned it responded after receiving a number of calls reporting as much as 40 protesters within the church.
“ICE out!” protesters shouted because the lead pastor and congregants confronted them.
The demonstrators mentioned they have been there to protest David Easterwood, who is listed as a pastor on the church and seems to be the identical David Easterwood who is a high ICE official within the Twin Cities. He was just lately named as a defendant in a case introduced by protesters who allege immigration brokers had violated their First and Fourth Amendment rights.
“David Easterwood, out now!” protesters yelled at one level.
Anti-ICE protest disrupts church service in Minnesota
The Department of Justice mentioned they’re investigating a gaggle of anti-ICE protesters after they interrupted a church service in Minnesota, alleging that one of many church’s pastors oversees native ICE operations.
The protesters then moved outdoors and began strolling down a close-by alley, police spokesperson Nikki Muehlhausen informed NCS Monday. The incident is actively being investigated as disorderly conduct, she added.
None of the movies present Easterwood within the church, and it’s unclear if he was within the constructing on Sunday. In response to NCS’s inquiry about his connection to ICE, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson responded, “DHS will never confirm or deny attempts to dox our law enforcement officers.”
In saying the federal investigation, Dhillon cited the FACE Act, a federal legislation that “prohibits the use or threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking to … exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.”
She reiterated the Justice Department is pursuing federal expenses in a post on social media Monday. She mentioned federal officers should first acquire a warrant earlier than making arrests.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche informed Fox News on Monday that the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division has despatched consultants to Minneapolis. The US Attorney’s workplace, the FBI and DHS are all concerned within the investigation, he mentioned.
A surge in immigration enforcement round Minneapolis, often known as Operation Metro Surge, introduced thousands of further federal brokers to the realm and prompted widespread protests, particularly after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mom of three, on January 7.
The swift promise to analyze the demonstration stood in distinction to the administration’s response to Good’s dying, because the FBI rapidly shifted an investigation into the ICE agent who shot Good to concentrate on whether or not the agent was assaulted, and the Justice Department refused to cooperate with native legislation enforcement businesses on their very own investigation.
Nekima Levy Armstrong, a former president of the native NAACP chapter and one of many organizers of the protest on the church, mentioned some parishioners have been unaware of Eastwood’s function as an ICE director. She informed NCS she doesn’t “know how anyone who claims to be Christian could condone his behavior and the dual nature of the roles that he plays.”
“The reality is that it’s unconscionable and unacceptable for someone to claim to serve as a pastor while also being responsible for a lot of what is happening here in our community as a result of thousands of ICE agents descending upon the state of Minnesota and the Twin Cities in particular.”
Easterwood doesn’t have a listed telephone quantity, and requests for remark despatched to his workplace weren’t instantly answered.
Armstrong mentioned protesters — not officers — are those who must be involved about being doxed. Further, she mentioned the Trump administration has “rolled back protections” for individuals to attend church, by permitting federal officers to perform enforcement actions and make arrests in protected areas, together with church buildings.
Cities Church has not responded to NCS’s requests for remark. A St. Paul police automobile was briefly seen parked outdoors the constructing Monday morning, and nobody answered when a NCS crew rang the doorbell.
Former NCS anchor Don Lemon mentioned he was current on the demonstration as a journalist and never as a protester after Department of Justice officers steered he might face expenses quickly.
“We will pursue charges,” Dhillon said throughout an interview in regards to the protest with conservative influencer Benny Johnson. She continued, saying Lemon couldn’t use his function as a journalist as a “shield.”
“Don Lemon himself has come out and said he knew exactly what was going to happen inside that facility. He went into the facility, and then he began, quote, unquote, committing journalism,” she mentioned.
She singled out Lemon in a post on X, saying that he’s “on notice.”
When reached for remark, Lemon mentioned over e-mail to NCS, “It’s notable that I’ve been cast as the face of a protest I was covering as a journalist — especially since I wasn’t the only reporter there. That framing is telling.”
He continued: “What’s even more telling is the barrage of violent threats, along with homophobic and racist slurs, directed at me online by MAGA supporters and amplified by parts of the right-wing press.”
Lemon, an unbiased journalist, reported from the protest on his YouTube channel. “I’m just here photographing, I’m not part of the group… I’m a journalist,” Lemon is heard saying.
Several religion leaders have denounced the impacts of the protests on the congregation, whereas saying migrant households must be handled with compassion.
The Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention referred to as for state and native officers “to ensure that the rule of law is applied consistently and that our houses of worship remain sacred — sanctuary spaces” and mentioned the protests brought on “unacceptable trauma,” in line with an announcement.
“While we recognize the tensions surrounding federal enforcement, the local church is a place for spiritual transformation and biblical teaching, not a platform for political theater or coerced denouncements,” it mentioned. Cities Church is affiliated with the conference, in line with its website.
Trey Turner, the manager director of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention, nevertheless, mentioned there are lots of individuals caught within the center. At church buildings across the state, parishioners are “fearful of being scooped up by larger operations,” he mentioned. Other church buildings have stopped assembly in particular person, he added, calling the stress and local weather “unnecessary.”
The head of the North American Mission Board, Kevin Ezell, mentioned there’s “no cause” that “justifies the desecration of a sacred space” and referred to as for native and state leaders to ensure it doesn’t occur once more, he wrote in a statement. Similarly, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention mentioned the governor ought to “commit to protecting the right of this church” and “to assemble free of threat.”
The man targeted by protesters Sunday is the performing subject workplace director in St. Paul for Enforcement and Removal Operations at ICE. In a declaration filed on this month’s lawsuit by protesters, Easterwood mentioned he has labored for ICE since 2015.
Easterwood argued in his assertion any order from the court docket would “further endanger the safety of law enforcement personnel and the public.”
Judge Katherine Menendez discovered ICE brokers had been overzealous in pulling over some demonstrators who have been following brokers in autos.
“The Court has carefully considered and weighed Director Easterwood’s account of how vehicles have been used by observers to protest ICE activity in the Twin Cities,” Menendez wrote. “But, even crediting his statements about incidents of misconduct among other people following Operation Metro Surge, it simply does not establish reasonable, articulable suspicion to stop as to these particular plaintiffs.”
Despite Easterwood’s testimony, Menendez issued a largely symbolic injunction ordering brokers to not detain individuals “who are engaging in unobtrusive protest activity, including observing the activities of Operation Metro Surge.”
The Department of Justice has appealed the order.
Just days after taking his present place, Easterwood appeared alongside Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a information convention on immigration enforcement within the Twin Cities.
“Our officers demonstrate every day what it means to serve with honor and dedication,” Easterwood said in October.
“Agitators aren’t just targeting our officers. Now they’re targeting churches, too,” Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin mentioned in an announcement to NCS. She additionally blamed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey “for whipping these mobs into a frenzy and then allowing them to run rampant.”
With feelings working excessive and confrontational ways escalating on either side, Sunday’s protest highlights the rising stress between defending free expression and silencing opposing voices.
“The question that we’re coming to is how law enforcement is going to protect the rights of protesters to engage in their First Amendment-protected activity, and at the same time not be intimidating other people for whatever rights they are engaged in,” NCS authorized analyst Carrie Cordero mentioned.
NCS’s Julia Vargas Jones, Sarah Moon, Even Pérez, Hannah Rabinowitz and Ramishah Maruf contributed to this report.
Correction:
An earlier model of this story misidentified the division of the agent who shot Renee Good. It was ICE.