The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that federal agents arrested three activists involved in an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a worship service last Sunday at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel announced that activists Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen had been charged under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act of 1994, which prohibits "intentionally injuring, intimidating, or interfering with ... [anyone] seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship."
"Minutes ago at my direction, [Homeland Security Investigations] and FBI agents executed an arrest in Minnesota. So far, we have arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong, who allegedly played a key role in organizing the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. We will share more updates as they become available," Bondi posted to X at around 9:30 a.m. EST.
"Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP," she added.
An hour later, Bondi announced that a second arrest had been made related to the incident and issued a warning against disrupting religious services in the U.S.
"Chauntyll Louisa Allen has been taken into custody. More to come. WE WILL PROTECT OUR HOUSES OF WORSHIP," she said.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted a photo of Armstrong being led away in handcuffs, noting she would be charged under 18 U.S. Code § 241.
Known as "Conspiracy against rights," the law prohibits "two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person ... in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States."
"Religious freedom is the bedrock of the United States — there is no first amendment right to obstruct someone from practicing their religion," Noem said.
The arrests come as Vice President JD Vance is traveling to Minnesota on Thursday amid ongoing unrest in the state.
Later on Thursday, Bondi also announced the arrest of William Kelly, who was seen on video haranguing churchgoers and vulgarly mocking them as "fake Christians."
"Our nation was settled and founded by people fleeing religious persecution. Religious freedom is the bedrock of this country. We will protect our pastors. We will protect our churches. We will protect Americans of faith," Bondi said.
A federal magistrate judge in Minnesota refused to sign a complaint charging Lemon, according to CBS News.
Armstrong, Allen and Kelly were part of a group of left-wing agitators associated with the Racial Justice Network that stormed Cities Church, a Southern Baptist congregation, during their service last Sunday, forcing the Sunday service to end early after screaming at churchgoers.
The group, which was accompanied by former CNN host Don Lemon, was protesting that the Rev. David Easterwood, one of the pastors, also serves as the acting director of the ICE St. Paul field office. They called on him to resign amid ICE's crackdown on illegal immigration in Minnesota's capital region, which has led to two ICE-involved shootings in recent weeks, including the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was shot by an ICE agent during an altercation involving her vehicle, which was blocking a road ICE agents were traveling on.
Armstrong, the founder and CEO of a cannabis company called Dope Roots, has made more $1 million over six years while serving as executive director of the Wayfinder Foundation, a Minneapolis-based civil rights nonprofit that received money from the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, reports Fox News.
Allen, who openly boasted about organizing the protests, is a Black Lives Matter leader and member of the Saint Paul Public Schools Board of Education. The daughter of a female minister, Allen compared her actions last Sunday to Jesus Christ cleansing the temple.
"I grew up in the church and one of the things that I remember about Jesus Christ is that when things weren’t going right in the church, he went in and he flipped tables," she told TMZ earlier this week.
Lemon, who has distanced himself from the protesters amid the federal investigation despite filming his own participation, also recently likened storming the church to Jesus clearing the temple of the moneychangers. Many Christian commentators agree that Jesus cleansing of the Court of the Gentiles, which was the court furthest from the temple, was a unique task suited only to Jesus that affirmed His authority while symbolizing His eventual grafting in of the Gentiles.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has defended the church protesters, telling Lemon in an interview earlier this week that their actions were protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
"Chanting cannot be a crime; it's freedom of expression," Ellison said.
A GiveSendGo fundraiser for Cities Church started by conservative podcast Benny Johnson with the permission of Parnell has raised more than $40,000 of its $100,000 goal, as of Thursday morning.
The U.S. Department of Justice under the Biden administration used the FACE Act, which also prohibits such behavior at abortion clinics, to prosecute pro-life protesters such as Mark Houck, a Catholic pro-life advocate and father of seven who faced 11 years in prison after he shoved a pro-abortion demonstrator who accosted his 12-year-old son during demonstrations outside a Philadelphia Planned Parenthood clinic in 2021.
The Biden Justice Department also charged several other anti-abortion demonstrators with FACE Act charges. In January, Trump pardoned about two dozen pro-life protesters prosecuted for unlawfully protesting at abortion clinics.
"The Biden DOJ used the Klan Act conspiracy charges tacked onto the FACE Act in the case of protests outside abortion clinics to bring much longer sentences," Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said in an interview this week. "So, there are a number of tools available to us."
