The DOJ Just Charged Dozens More for Anti-ICE Church Protest

The Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against an additional 30 protesters who mounted an anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, last month.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on X Friday that federal agents had already arrested 25 of the 30 new defendants at her direction.

“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,” she wrote emphatically. “This Department of Justice STANDS for Christians and all Americans of faith.”

(It’s worth noting that Donald Trump’s administration is simultaneously facing multiple legal challenges from churchgoers and religious groups alleging that the government has impeded worship by removing restrictions against immigration enforcement near houses of worship.)

Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced that the charges that had been brought were a misdemeanor charge under the FACE Act of 1994 for intimidating or interfering with people exercising their constitutional freedom to practice religion, and a felony charge under the KKK Act of 1871 for conspiring to interfere with individuals’ religious rights. She credited the teamwork of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, as well as Homeland Security Investigations and FBI agents, for making the arrests.

The case’s original nine defendants who were charged similarly in connection with the anti-ICE protest at Cities Church—including Don Lemon—have pleaded not guilty.

Lemon and Georgia Fort, an independent journalist charged in the case, have asked the court to consider disclosing the grand jury transcripts, arguing that the government’s conduct surrounding the case had been “highly unusual, nakedly political, and inconsistent with practice in this District.”