October 1, 2026
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — At least three people involved in an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church have been arrested, Trump administration officials said Thursday, even as a judge rebuffed related charges against journalist Don Lemon.
Vice President JD Vance, speaking in Minneapolis, urged state and local law enforcement to collaborate with federal officials and said activists must stop getting in their way.
Attorney General Pam Bondi posted online that Nekima Levy Armstrong had been arrested. On Sunday, activists entered the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as a pastor. Bondi later posted that a second person had been arrested, and FBI Director Kash Patel announced a third.
The Justice Department quickly opened a civil rights investigation after the group interrupted services with chanting.
“Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP," the attorney general wrote on X.
Cities Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention and lists one of its pastors as David Easterwood, who leads an ICE field office. Many Baptist churches have pastors who also work other jobs.
Prominent leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have argued that compassion for migrant families cannot justify violating a sacred space during worship.
Attorneys representing the church hailed the arrests.
“The U.S. Department of Justice acted decisively by arresting those who coordinated and carried out the terrible crime,” Doug Wardlow, director of litigation for True North Legal, said in a statement.
Levy Armstrong has helped lead protests after the high-profile police-involved killings of Black Americans, including George Floyd, Philando Castile, and Jamar Clark. She is a former president of the NAACP’s Minneapolis branch.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted a photo on X of Levy Armstrong with her arms behind her back next to a person wearing a badge. Noem said she faces a charge under a statute that bars threatening or intimidating someone exercising a right.
Patel posted on X that Chauntyll Louisa Allen, the second person Bondi said was arrested, is charged under a law that prohibits physically obstructing or using the threat of force to intimidate or interfere with a person seeking to participate in a service at a house of worship. Patel said William Kelly has also been arrested.
A message seeking comment was sent to Allen's and Kelly's attorney.
Saint Paul Public Schools, where Allen is a board of education member, said it is aware of her arrest but will not comment on pending legal matters.
Allen and Levy Armstrong are part of a community of Black Minnesota activists.
In court Thursday, federal magistrate judge Doug Micko granted the women bond and restricted them from traveling outside Minnesota or from going near the church. The government said it would appeal, and the women remained in federal custody Thursday afternoon.
A magistrate judge rejected federal prosecutors’ bid to charge journalist Don Lemon related to the church protest, said Kushner, Levy Armstrong’s attorney.
Lemon has said he was at the church as a journalist and not a protester.
“Once the protest started in the church, we did an act of journalism which was report on it and talk to the people involved, including the pastor, members of the church, and members of the organization,” Lemon said in a video posted on social media.
Lemon's attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement that the judge’s action confirms Lemon’s work as a reporter was protected by the First Amendment.
It wasn’t immediately clear what the Justice Department would do after the judge’s decision. Authorities could return to a magistrate judge to again seek a criminal complaint or an indictment against Lemon before a grand jury.
CNN, which fired Lemon in 2023, first reported the ruling.
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