U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that federal prosecutors have brought charges against 30 additional individuals accused of participating in an anti-ICE protest that interrupted a worship service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 18.
In a post on her official X account last Friday, Bondi said the Department of Justice is “charging 30 more people who took part in the attack on Cities Church in Minnesota.”
“At my direction, federal agents have already arrested 25 of them, with more to come throughout the day,” Bondi tweeted. “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 added that the Trump administration’s Justice Department “STANDS for Christians and all Americans of faith.”
According to The Associated Press, the new indictments bring the total number of individuals charged in connection with the protest to 39. Among those facing charges are CNN anchor Don Lemon, independent journalist Georgia Fort and Trahern Crews, a lead organizer of Black Lives Matter Minnesota.
The disruption occurred when demonstrators entered the church during a Sunday service to protest one of the pastors, who also works as an agent for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Federal prosecutors have charged the defendants under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which includes provisions safeguarding houses of worship from acts of physical intimidation.
Court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota allege that participants carried out “a coordinated take-over style attack” that involved “acts of oppression, intimidation, threats, interference, and physical obstruction.”
The indictment states that protesters interrupted the sermon with “loud declarations,” including chants of “ICE Out!” and “Stand up, fight back!” along with other shouting.
Fort and Lemon have maintained that they attended solely in a journalistic capacity. However, prosecutors allege that both were present at a meeting with protest organizers “for a pre-op briefing” at a shopping center led by defendants Nekima Levy-Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen. The meeting reportedly included “instruction on how the operation would be conducted once they arrived at the Church.”
In a guest essay published last month in The New York Times, Fort argued that the indictment reflects what she described as a broader effort to intimidate members of the media. She wrote that she views the charges as part of a “pattern of intimidating the press, physically harming reporters who are covering protests and, now, taking legal action against members of the media.”
“Charges against journalists for doing their jobs must be dropped,” she wrote. “Physical harm and intimidation against reporters must carry consequences.”
Separately, Cities Church member Ann Doucette filed a civil complaint in U.S. District Court for Minnesota last week, alleging civil conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, aiding and abetting, trespassing and interference with religious exercise against the protesters.
