Minneapolis – Trump administration officials said Thursday that a prominent civil rights lawyer and at least two other people involved in an anti-immigration protest that disrupted a church service in Minnesota have been arrested, even as a judge dismissed related charges against journalist Don Lemon.
Vice President JD Vancein a speech in Minneapolis, he urged state and local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal officials and said protesters must stop getting in their way.
Attorney General Pam Bondi posted online that Nekima Levy Armstrong had been arrested. On Sunday, protesters entered Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as pastor. Bondi later disclosed that a second person had been arrested, and FBI Director Kash Patel announced a third.
The Justice Department quickly launched a civil rights investigation after the group disrupted services chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis earlier this month.
“Hear it loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE BATTLEFIELD ATTACKS,” the attorney general wrote.
Cities Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention and lists one of its pastors as David Easterwood, who heads the ICE field office. Many Baptist churches have pastors who also work other jobs.
Church lawyers praise the arrest
Prominent Southern Baptist leaders Convention argued that compassion for migrant families cannot justify the disruption of sacred space during worship.
Lawyers representing the church welcomed the arrest.
“The US Department of Justice acted decisively and arrested those who coordinated and committed this horrific crime,” Doug Wardlow, director of litigation at True North Legal, which calls itself a public interest human rights firm, said in a statement.
Levy Armstrong, a lawyer and longtime activist, called on the ICE-affiliated pastor to resign because his dual role presents a “fundamental moral conflict.”
“You cannot lead a congregation and at the same time lead an agency whose actions have cost lives and instilled fear in our communities,” she said Tuesday. “When officials protect armed agents, repeatedly deny meaningful investigations into murders like Renee Good’s, and signal that they can go after peaceful protesters and journalists, that’s not justice — it’s intimidation.”
Vance wants local law enforcement to assist federal officers
State and local elected officials they opposed the intervention it became the primary focus of Department of Homeland Security investigations.
Vance arrived stateside less than a month later Renee Good was killed. He called A good death to a “self-inflicted tragedy”.
Before his visit to Minnesota, Vance warned protesters at the church: “Those people will be sent to prison as long as we have the power to do so.
Later in Minneapolis, he called on state and city law enforcement agencies to help federal immigration officials.
“We’re doing everything we can to bring the temperature down,” Vance said, adding that he wants “state and local officials to meet us halfway.”
Greg Bovino, a U.S. Border Patrol official, said Minneapolis police did not help federal agents who were surrounded by protesters at a gas station on Wednesday. Minneapolis police later responded that they had not received any requests for assistance from federal agents on Wednesday.
Protesters appear in court
Levy Armstrong helped lead protests after police-involved killings of black Americans, including george floyd Philando Castile and Jamar Clark. She is a former president of the Minneapolis branch of the NAACP.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted a photo on X of Levy Armstrong with his hands behind his back next to a person with a badge. Noem said she faces charges under the law, which prohibits threatening or intimidating someone in law enforcement.
Patel posted on Patel said William Kelly was also arrested.
Allen and Kelly’s attorneys have been sent a message seeking comment.
Saint Paul Public Schools, where Allen serves on the school board, said it was aware of her arrest but would not comment on pending legal matters.
Allen and Levy Armstrong are part of the Black Minnesota activist community.
Kelly defended the protest and criticized the church for associating with a pastor who works for ICE.
In court Thursday, federal judge Doug Micko granted the women bond and barred them from traveling outside of Minnesota or going near the church. The government said it would appeal, and the women remained in federal custody Thursday afternoon.
Levy Armstrong’s lawyer, Jordan Kushner, said he offered to let her go peacefully, but the Trump administration insisted on her arrest.
“They wanted a spectacle,” Levy Armstrong’s husband, Marques Armstrong, said, recalling that about 50 agents came to arrest her.
The arrest follows a Justice Department civil rights investigation
The Justice Department quickly investigated the church’s protest but found no basis for a civil rights investigation into Good’s death.
Administration officials he said the officer acted in self-defense and that the Honda driver was involved “act of domestic terrorism” when she was drawn to him. However, past administrations have been quick to investigate shootings of civilians by law enforcement officials.
The Ministry of Justice has a separate launched an investigation into whether Minnesota officials have impeded or hindered federal immigration enforcement through their public statements. Prosecutors this week subpoenas sent to the offices of Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, St. Paul Kaohly Her and officials in Ramsey and Hennepin counties, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The judge dismisses the charges against Lemon
A magistrate judge rejected a bid by federal prosecutors to charge journalist Don Lemon in connection with the church protest, said Kushner, Levy Armstrong’s attorney.
Lemon said he was at the church as a journalist and not as a protester.
“Once the protest started at the church, we did a journalistic act reporting it and talking to the people involved, including the pastor, church members and members of the organization,” Lemon said in a video posted on social media. “That’s it. It’s called journalism.”
It was not immediately clear what the Justice Department would do after the judge’s decision. Authorities could go back to the magistrate judge and again seek criminal charges or a grand jury indictment against Lemon.
CNN, which fired Lemon in 2023, first reported the decision.
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