U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has announced that 30 more people have been indicted for their alleged involvement in an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a St. Paul, Minnesota, church service on Jan 18.
Last Friday, Bondi took to her official X account to announce that the U.S. Department of Justice is “charging 30 more people who took part in the attack on Cities Church in Minnesota.”
“At my direction, federal agents have already arrested 25 of them, with more to come throughout the day,” Bondi tweeted. “YOU CANNOT ATTACK A HOUSE OF WORSHIP. If you do so, you cannot hide from us — we will find you, arrest you, and prosecute you.”
Bondi stated in her tweet that the Trump administration’s Justice Department “STANDS for Christians and all Americans of faith.”
This brings the total number of people indicted over the protest at Cities Church in St. Paul to 39, reported The Associated Press. CNN anchor Don Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort are also facing charges.
Trahern Crews, a lead organizer of Black Lives Matter Minnesota who is among the indicted individuals, said in a statement that he believed the latest arrests were a “waste of time.”
“It’s a shame that the people who have killed Alex Pretti and Renee Good or Keith Porter have not been arrested but peaceful protesters have,” Crews stated, as quoted by the AP.
On Jan. 18, a group of protesters entered Cities Church during a worship service to demonstrate against one of the church’s pastors, who also serves as an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The DOJ charged the protesters with violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which contains a provision protecting houses of worship from physical intimidation.
The official indictment, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, claimed that the protesters engaged in “a coordinated take-over style attack” on the church, including “acts of oppression, intimidation, threats, interference, and physical obstruction.”
Protesters reportedly interrupted the sermon with “loud declarations,” according to the indictment, including chants of “ICE Out!” and “Stand up, fight back!” and general yelling.
While Fort and Lemon have argued that they were there only as journalists covering the protest, prosecutors claim that they met with protest leaders “for a pre-op briefing” at a shopping center led by defendants Nekima Levy-Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen, which included “instruction on how the operation would be conducted once they arrived at the Church.”
In a guest essay published in The New York Times last month, Fort wrote that she believes the indictment against her is part of a “pattern of intimidating the press, physically harming reporters who are covering protests and, now, taking legal action against members of the media.”
“Charges against journalists for doing their jobs must be dropped,” she wrote. “Physical harm and intimidation against reporters must carry consequences.”
“If we as a nation fail to defend that principle now, clearly and without compromise, we may soon find that there is nothing left to defend.”
Last week, Cities Church member Ann Doucette filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for Minnesota against the protesters, accusing them of civil conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, aiding and abetting, trespassing and interference with religious exercise.
“For Mrs. Doucette, the church was the one place she felt safe from the divisions of the world,” her complaint reads. “That sense of security was shattered when defendants transformed a solemn service into a chaotic scene of intimidation.”
