The Department of Justice has opened an investigation into anti-ICE activists who stormed a Baptist church in St. Paul, Minnesota, unleashing chaos during a Sunday service to protest a pastor who allegedly works as a federal immigration agent.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said that two prosecutors from the Civil Rights Division are headed to Minneapolis to join an FBI team and local prosecutors looking into whether the protest violated federal law, calling it a “heinous act.”
“This is going to get the highest attention from the Department of Justice because there is no more sacred right in our constitution than the right to assemble and pray to God,” Ms. Dhillon said Monday on Newsmax. “There are federal laws that protect that right.”
Several dozen protesters affiliated with the Racial Justice Network and other activist groups poured into the Cities Church sanctuary, chanting slogans such as “Out ICE.” They brought services to a halt and refused requests by church leaders to leave, as shown in a video posted by former CNN anchor Don Lemon.
“I mean, this is unacceptable. This is shameful,” Lead Pastor Jonathan Parnell told Mr. Lemon as activists shouted in the background. “It’s shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians at worship.”
Mr. Lemon, who now hosts a podcast, countered that “there’s a Constitution and a First Amendment to freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest,” although he didn’t mention that the First Amendment also protects freedom to worship.
“Our church had gathered for worship as we do every Sunday,” Mr. Parnell said. “We asked them to leave, and they obviously have not left.”
We are on it @CivilRights, working with the USAO in Minneapolis. This is un-American and outrageous. https://t.co/5orAHecxIG
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) January 18, 2026
The Trump administration immediately condemned the demonstration. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that attacks on law enforcement and “the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law.”
“If state leaders refuse to act responsibly to prevent lawlessness, this Department of Justice will remain mobilized to prosecute federal crimes and ensure that the rule of law prevails,” Ms. Bondi posted Sunday on X.
Ms. Dhillon specifically cited the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 law used during the Biden administration to prosecute pro-life activists blocking abortion clinics that also protects houses of worship.
“What happened here was a shameful exercise of virtue signaling, disruption, fear, terror,” Ms. Dhillon said. “You can see children in this video being ushered out the back by their terrorized mothers. And this is illegal. I want to add that the Biden administration prosecuted people peacefully praying outside abortion clinics for much, much less.”
She also blasted state officials, saying their “own state laws prohibit this very conduct,” but were not enforced.
“Well, if they’re not going to enforce their laws, we will enforce our federal laws, and we are already doing that,” Ms. Dhillon told conservative podcast host Benny Johnson.
Activists chose the church for what one leader called the “clandestine operation” because one of the eight pastors is David Easterwood, who was identified by activists as acting field office director for ICE in Minnesota.
The church, a member of the Southern Baptist Convention, has eight pastors listed on its website, including one named David Easterwood.
“This cannot be a house of God while harboring someone directing ICE agents to wreak havoc on our community,” Racial Justice Network leader Nekima LevyArmstrong told Mr. Lemon. “I am a reverend on top of being a lawyer and an activist, so I come here in the power of the almighty God.”
Also involved with the protest was Black Lives Minnesota, which posted a video of the demonstration on Facebook with the message, “Up with Christ and down with ICE.”
The church has not commented on Mr. Easterwood, who apparently did not attend the disrupted service.
