Federal authorities have arrested at least three people in connection with an anti-immigration enforcement protest at a Southern Baptist Church in Minnesota Jan. 18, federal officials said.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced FBI and Department of Homeland Security agents arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong Jan. 22 for organizing the demonstration inside Cities Church in St. Paul, Minn.
Levy Armstrong confronting the congregation of Cities Church (Screencap)
Bondi quickly followed with news that Chauntyll Louisa Allen also had been taken into custody for her role in the protest. Later in the day, DHS Secretary Krisi Noem announced activist William Kelly would be charged with “conspiracy to deprive rights” for his participation in the demonstration.
Protesters entered the church during Sunday morning worship and began chanting, “Hands up, don’t shoot” and “ICE out.” The demonstration was organized because one of the congregation’s elders, David Easterwood, is acting field director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota.
Levy Armstrong, an activist and attorney, is accused of organizing the church protest that has infuriated conservative media and MAGA evangelicals. Allen is a community organizer and member of the St. Paul Board of Education.
A federal magistrate barred the Justice Department Jan. 22 from pressing charges against former CNN anchor Don Lemon, now an independent journalist, for being among the protesters as he shot video inside Cities Church, CNN reported.
“Lemon has said he was present at the demonstration as a journalist and not as a protester. In a video of the episode that he posted on YouTube, Lemon says, ‘I’m just here photographing, I’m not part of the group. … I’m a journalist.’”
Bondi has spent part of the week in Minnesota following the protest and reportedly was “enraged” by the magistrate’s rejection of charges against Lemon, according to CNN.
Federal officials have expressed outrage that anti-ICE demonstrators would enter a sacred space to protest the administration’s immigration enforcement actions.
“Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP,” Bondi proclaimed on social media when Levy Armstrong was arrested. “WE WILL PROTECT OUR HOUSES OF WORSHIP,” she added when Allen was taken into custody.
“Religious freedom is the bedrock of the United States — there is no First Amendment right to obstruct someone from practicing their religion,” Noem added in a post about Levy Armstrong’s arrest.
Neither Bondi nor Noem raised similar objections when President Donald Trump rescinded a decades-old policy barring immigration raids in houses of worship.
Neither Bondi nor Noem raised similar objections when President Donald Trump rescinded a decades-old policy barring immigration raids in sensitive locations such as schools, hospitals and houses of worship.
In fact, it was DHS that announced on Jan. 21, 2025, that no space is off limits from immigration agents, not even sanctuaries during times of worship. “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
Resistance to the policy shift has been widespread, with multiple faith groups filing federal lawsuits to prevent ICE agents from operating on their properties or in their sanctuaries and other buildings.
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and a Sikh group in California joined a lawsuit filed last January by numerous Quaker groups. The action resulted in a temporary stay preventing ICE from conducting raids in those groups’ congregations.
The Alliance of Baptists and American Baptist Churches in the USA joined a coalition of faith organizations in a similar lawsuit filed in July.
“Raids on houses of worship desecrate sacred spaces, violate religious freedom and spread fear among those seeking peace and refuge,” said Lisa Dunson, board president of the Alliance of Baptists. “Such acts send a chilling message that no place is safe and that immigrants, refugees and the marginalized can be targeted even in the house of God. These actions defy the teachings shared across faith traditions to welcome the stranger, seek justice, show mercy and extend hospitality.”
Historian Jemar Tisby has released a video explanation on the debate over protesters entering houses of worship.
“People who agree that ICE must be stopped disagree on methods,” he said. “The question is not about protest in general, but about entering a religious building and deliberately halting worship. What if the other side did that to some other worship service? Should there be some sort of agreement on both sides that worship services are off-limits? Are there other ways to protest, even during worship, that are still distracting but don’t entail halting the service altogether?”
On BNG’s “Stuck in the Middle with You” podcast, Mark Wingfield and Benjamin Cole also debate this issue.
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