DOJ Probing ‘Potential Criminal Violations’ After Anti-ICE Mob Storms Minnesota Church
Fired CNN host Don Lemon live-streamed the event. “This is the beginning of what’s going to happen here,” he said. “They’ve stopped the service — a lot of people, a number of people have left.”
Perhaps the most outrageous act committed by anti-ICE agitators over the weekend was their storming of Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, during a Sunday morning worship service due to the pastor’s alleged ties to ICE. The mob burst into the church’s sanctuary and chanted “Justice for Renee Good” and “Who needs justice, we need justice.”
Fired CNN host Don Lemon live-streamed the event. “This is the beginning of what’s going to happen here, he said. “They’ve stopped the service — a lot of people, a number of people have left.” He claimed, “This is what the First Amendment is about, the freedom to protest. I’m sure people here don’t like it, but protests are not comfortable.”
Lemon compared the unrest in Minneapolis to the protests of the Civil Rights Movement. This is what happens, he said, “when you violate people’s due process, when you pull people off the street,” and “when you violate the Constitution.”
BREAKING – Anti ICE agitators, led by failed CNN host Don Lemon, stormed a Minneapolis church this morning, halting services and holding members hostage because they believed the pastor was ICE affiliated.
“The whole point of it is to disrupt and make people uncomfortable.” pic.twitter.com/ddwPwpwV5E
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) January 18, 2026
Lemon lectured the pastor:
NEW: Don Lemon tries lecturing a pastor on the First Amendment after a mob of far leftists stormed a church in Minneapolis.
Pastor: “This is unacceptable. It’s shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship…”
Lemon: “Listen, there’s a constitution, the First Amendment to freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest.”
Pastor: “We’re here to worship Jesus because the hope of the world is Jesus Christ…”
Lemon: “But did you try to talk to them?”
Pastor: “No one is willing to talk. I have to take care of my church and my family so I ask that you would also leave this building.”
Imagine storming a church mid worship and thinking you are the good guys.
NEW: Don Lemon tries lecturing a pastor on the First Amendment after a mob of far leftists stormed a church in Minneapolis.
Pastor: “This is unacceptable. It's shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship…”
Lemon: “Listen, there's a constitution, the First… pic.twitter.com/joHdCvaXe6
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 18, 2026
Agitators aren’t just targeting our officers. Now they’re targeting churches, too.
They're going from hotel to hotel, church to church, hunting for federal law enforcement who are risking their lives to protect Americans.
Tim Walz and Jacob Frey are responsible for whipping… https://t.co/O3WQ6Iftfe
— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) January 18, 2026
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice, Harmeet Dhillon, saw the incident quite a bit differently. Responding in a series of social media posts on Sunday evening, Dhillon wrote, “The @CivilRights is investigating the potential violations of the federal FACE Act [Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act] by these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshippers. @AGPamBondi.”
The relevant portion of the FACE Act of 1994 states:
Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit: … (2) intentionally injuring, intimidating, or interfering with, or attempting to injure, intimidate, or interfere, any person by force, threat of force, or physical obstruction exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.
In a second post, Dhillon indicated she was “considering and investigating other related crimes as well. @FBI activated too! @TheJusticeDept.”
“We are on it @CivilRights, working with the USAO [United States Attorney’s Office] in Minneapolis. This is un-American and outrageous,” she wrote in another.
I’m in touch with @AGPamBondi and the FBI. We are all over it. We are investigating potential criminal violations of federal law. https://t.co/tyRL0axn99
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) January 18, 2026
The DOJ is unlikely to have much difficulty identifying members of the anti-ICE group “Operation Pull-Up” who carried out the so-called “mission,” given the participants’ uncharacteristic transparency. Departing from their usual practice of concealing their identities, conservative influencer Will Chamberlain noted on X that they arrived at the church “unmasked” and later “posted on FB about their conduct.” He added that observers should “expect to see a LOT of mugshots.”
Chamberlain attached a social media post from Nekima Levy Armstrong that thanked several activists and organizers by name and explicitly stated the group’s motive. It read:
Friends, Here is a clip of our demonstration this morning at Cities Church in St. Paul. David Easterwood is a Pastor at this church and the Acting Field Director for the ICE office in St. Paul. It’s time for judgment to begin and it will begin in the House of God!!! Thank you to all of the activists who showed up + independent journalists Georgia Fort, Don Lemon, DawokeFarmer2, Brixton Hughes. Special thanks to Monique Cullars Doty, Chauntyll Allen, Satara Strong-Allen for co- organizing this mission from Black Lives Matter Minnesota & Black Lives Matter Twin Cities Metro, along with Racial Justice Network.
[According to Fox News, “Cities Church lists eight pastors of varying roles, including David Easterwood, who shares the same name as the acting director of ICE’s St. Paul field office. … Fox News Digital has reached out to ICE to verify whether the two individuals are the same person.”]
This is the closest thing to a J6-level screwup I’ve seen from left-wing protestors. Normally they are masked when they step over the legal line, and they use good opsec. Here they showed up unmasked, posted on FB about their conduct, etc.
Expect to see a LOT of mugshots. https://t.co/XlustBGkbj
— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) January 19, 2026
I think I have some good leads for you @AAGDhillon https://t.co/KXT0NaiTKe
— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) January 18, 2026
🚨Meet Nekima-Levy Armstrong. The purple lipstick wearing, George Floyd civil rights attorney who hijacked a church service in Minneapolis this morning.
She called it a “Clandestine Operation Pull-Up.”
Racial civil rights seem to be a thing of the past for her and is now… pic.twitter.com/38Ky26IIOA
— Erikaaa (@ErikaC47) January 18, 2026
A Facebook post from the Lynnwood Times reported, “Leftist agitator William Kelly, who travels state to state harassing ICE, joined Lemon in storming the church and demanded churchgoers publicly denounce ICE and stand with Somalians and Latinos while swearing at parents and children.”
He is a paid agitator..if you look into it you will find that he coordinated with Lemon who PAID him to be there is my wager. https://t.co/QiaZ3hCoUU
— Johnny St.Pete (@JohnMcCloy) January 18, 2026
You may recall the FACE Act was used to prosecute pro-life activists by the Biden administration’s DOJ. At the same time, the Biden DOJ ignored violence against pro-life centers committed by pro-abortion activists.
It appears that agitators were unaware that this law also applies to places of worship. Regardless, whether they understood it or not, their actions crossed a clear legal and moral line. Peaceful protest does not include the right to interrupt worship, intimidate congregants, or desecrate a house of faith in pursuit of a political grievance. As the DOJ’s response makes clear, the First Amendment protects the free exercise of religion no less than it protects speech — and when activists trample one constitutional right in the name of another, accountability is not only appropriate, but necessary.
New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino spoke for many Americans in her response to the incident on X: “If you’re literally storming a church to force your political views on people, you are NOT the good guys in ANY way whatsoever.”
It’s insane that this even needs to be said, but if you’re literally storming a church to force your political views on people, you are NOT the good guys in ANY way whatsoever.
And you most definitely deserve whatever backlash comes next.
— Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (@VickieforNYC) January 18, 2026
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
If you think these people entering the church was the most outrageous act of the weekend in Minnesota you haven’t been paying attention.
Mobs were out profiling people and violently attacking them if they didn’t conform. If I had to choose between having my church service interrupted versus having my skull cracked I know which one I would choose.
Both are pretty damn outrageous. What makes the invasion of the Church and the disruption of the 1A activity of the congregation more consequential is the foolishness of the people who did so. They didn’t disguise their identities. In fact they posted all sorts of self congratulatory info ‘in the clear’ not with pseudonyms. Even more they named the individuals and organizations who, by their admission, ‘coordinated’ the action.
This was incredibly stupid. Now there’s a link to the individuals and the organizations for DoJ to follow. I’d expect subpoenas/warrants of their communications their finances, their electronic devices, the geo location tracking of their cell phones to see if they were present in other criminal acts. These morons have probably handed the DoJ the tools to destroy their ‘movement’ on a silver platter.
“They didn’t disguise their identities.”
Tsk. Doesn’t the Klan have standards anymore?
This isn’t 1926 anymore. Dems don’t bother with wardrobe so much now because they think they are immune.
These neo nullification idiots appear not to understand just how much their predatory cosplay virtue signalling has potentially compromised the organizations, the individuals, the organizers and the financiers of this stupidly selfish act.
These are today’s Brownshirts, the Chinese Communists of the Great Leap Forward and the Khmer Rouge of Pol Pot . If the Federal police and judiciary don’t act swiftly we will George Floyd on steroids
This is a criminal act that deserves to be prosecuted under the FACE act (unlike the anti-abortion protesters who prayed and stood otuside.
Lemon and his gang of turds would have been fine (to my mind) picketing outside the church and whining about Christianity but to raid the church during service and disrupt, even threaten, parishioners is plain criminal. Add to that, that the basis of their assault was an attempt to coerce an individual into not working for the federal government, for federal law enforcement, adds a charge of seditious conspiracy to this (which now entails REAL prison time).
Lemon and the insurrectionists he conspired with must all be arrested and stand trial for their crimes.
Such content of character on display by Lemon.
Hey, Donnie, guess what else is uncomfortable?
You’re about to find out.
I hear he likes to drop the soap in the shower.
Arm up, as home invasions will be next.
Do not hesitate, as it happens quickly!
Quite possibly in Minneapolis, less likely where I live.
That’s nice, but why do we assume it must be solely a federal case? Surely it is criminal trespass at the least. The local prosecutor and police need to have their toes pushed to the fire.
Because the local authorities seem to support it.
I wonder if the local authorities knew about it?
That’s what a Federal investigation will do; ‘hold the locals feet to the fire’ by the contrast in the seriousness the different levels of gov’t deploy to rein in the illegal acts. At best we might get a tepid ‘screaming/interference is fine but don’t go into a church to do it’ sort of statement from City and State leadership.
The godless churches and their pretend clergy, as well as the soulless congregation will give a pass. So, there will be no charges, because their fake gahd tells them so.
Christ dos not exist to these people, only the fake “What Would Jeeeeeeeezussssssss Do?”
Storm a Christian Church- that’s what Nazis and Communist do and also what Islamists do.
And this is why so many churches, sadly, have elevated security procedures in place, especially during worship times. Evil lives.
.
Don ‘Stinky Fingers’ Le-Mon…. struggling to maintain a tiny bit or relevancy. What a pathetic loser.
Little by little in the streets of America, Democrats are showing their one true color and how they mean to take back and keep political power.
Red
A lie!
first off they are lying when they say they were after the pastor b/c he is a suspected ice guy
They dsaid that to avoid hate crime charges and as a pretext,,,
they want to attack chrisitians
this is somalia to them
this is the congo
south africaniger to them
“This is what the First Amendment is about, the freedom to protest. I’m sure people here don’t like it, but protests are not comfortable.”
did the police arrest anyone including lemon?
THIS IS WORSE THAN JAN 6 or at best equal to it in a trespass context
they are using fear and intimidation against christians like they do the joowish community
This is the best video I e seen showing what an idiot Don Lemon is
This incredibly articulate man at the church put him to shame
https://rumble.com/v74jhme-don-lemon-loses-it-after-smarter-man-shuts-down-his-gaslighting.html
Lemon seems to fancy himself an immigration and constitution guru.
Crazy trying to force his views on other people; telling that man that he should know (be informed) of supposed abuse by ICE.
The DOJ will “probe.” “investigate,” and then what? Likely DOJ will do nothing. This is what we get from Republican administrations. Of course Trump is way better, but still too timid. The anti-ICE protestors seem to think that 1A provides a license to disrupt. It doesn’t. It simply limits government action to suppress speech. 1A does give people license to attack me, block my car, disrupt my meal in a restaurant etc. I get to go about my business unmolested. There are churches in Texas where many of the attendees come armed. Try barging into a service, and you will get a hail of lead. Attack an infirm old person crossing the street, and some of the passerbys will shoot you. Texas is nothing like Minnesota.
Trump needs to invoke the Insurrection Act and send troops to Minnesota to preserve civilization. If we don’t stop the chaos in Minnesota it will spread to other states. NYC is next. The Democrats think chaos will help them in that the voters will blame the party in power. All the more reason for Trump do take action and take it now.
“The DOJ will “probe.” “investigate,” and then what? Likely DOJ will do nothing. This is what we get from Republican administrations. Of course Trump is way better, but still too timid.”
Trump personally hired the weak-sauce chick running the DOJ. And the disappointing fellow who abandoned running the FBI.
You know, this could have turned out much worse. These “protestors” were nuts and seriously lacking any smarts or human qualities. But next time the very violent nuts could be running the live stream, ala Hamas. IDK what Lemon thinks he’s playing at, but he seems to be adrift from reality.
security will/should ramp up by the parishioners and/or patriots
if glocks/sigs and others not allowed
then batons bats fire hoses dogs cats in heat and the wnba would work
Epitaph for Renee:
“I failed to kill law enforcement, but I was able to give my life for anarchy, the Tides Foundation, and the DNC.”
Fk Renee Good. Attempt to unalive law enforcement deserves the response she received.
I wonder what was going through her mind when she was driving her car into the agent… besides a high velocity 9 mm round.
She was already brain dead before she was shot.
Wait until the bolsheviks head out for the suburbs.
It appears that local law enforcement is not protecting the people. As for ‘hunting for federal law enforcement’, if federal law enforcement behave as prey then they are behaving no better than local law enforcement. As for Trump’s DOJ, Nero fiddled while Rome burned. People should consider protecting themselves or suffer the consequences in silence, this is the uncomfortable truth anarchy presents us all.