Anti-ICE protest ‘terrorized’ Minnesota church, left kids scared, parents blocked: DOJ says

The anti-ICE protesters who stormed a Minnesota church earlier this month “terrorized” the parishioners there, leaving children scared, blocking parents from reaching their kids, and resulting in a female worshipper breaking her arm as she fled the service, according to court filings by the Justice Department.The DOJ said in a recently unsealed criminal complaint against three defendants that on Sunday, Jan. 18, a “group of approximately 30-40 agitators” who were “working together in a coordinated manner” descended upon Cities Church in St. Paul and “disrupted the religious service and intimidated, harassed, oppressed, and terrorized the parishioners, including young children, and caused the service to be cut short and forced parishioners to flee the church out of a side door, which resulted in one female victim falling and suffering an injury.”
Activists charged with “Conspiracy Against Rights Secured by Federal Law”
Three activists who participated in the disruption of the church — former NAACP Minneapolis chapter president Nekima Valdez Levy Armstrong, local Black Lives Matter Twin Cities chapter leader Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and leftwing provocateur “Da Woke Farmer” William Scott Kelly — were arrested last week on Jan. 22. They were charged with allegedly violating 18 U.S. Code § 241, with the DOJ saying the charges related to “Conspiracy Against Rights Secured by Federal Law, namely, the free exercise of religion at a place of religious worship secured by” the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances, commonly known as the FACE Act.
The criminal complaint was brought under seal by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristian Weir on Jan. 20, the criminal affidavit was penned by DHS-ICE special agent Timothy Gerber, and Magistrate Judge Douglas L. Micko found there was probable cause to issue warrants against the three defendants.
DHS said in a press release last week that the agency had joined the DOJ “in arresting three individuals in connection with a planned riot at a church in St. Paul.” DHS said that anti-ICE agitators “stormed into the Cities Church in St. Paul, shouting down churchgoers in the middle of services.”
Allen’s lawyer, Jill Brisbois, did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent through her website. Kelly’s lawyer, James Becker from the Office of the Federal Defender in Minnesota, told Just the News that “at this time, I’m going to decline to make any comment” but said Wednesday that that might change in the next 24 to 48 hours.
Activists claim interrupting religious services “doesn’t violate any law”
“It’s pure political persecution. It’s the criminalization of free speech,” Armstrong’s lawyer, Jordan Kushner, claimed to Just the News. When asked if it was his stance that interrupting religious services in a coordinated fashion was not a crime, he said, “It doesn’t violate any state or federal law.”
Kushner added that if the protesters were asked to leave, but didn’t, then it potentially could have justified misdemeanor trespass charges, but that their actions didn’t violate federal law in his view.
The criminal affidavit against the trio of defendants conveyed that “statements made by agitators at the church indicated that they targeted the church based on their belief that one of the church’s pastors is a federal immigration officer” whom the DOJ dubbed “Victim #1.”
Organized protest caused “anxiety and fear” among churchgoers
DHS similarly said last week that “protesters targeted the church accusing one of the pastors of working for ICE.”
A “David Easterwood” is listed as a pastor at Cities Church. A “David Easterwood” is also listed as the Acting Director for the St. Paul ICE Field Office, according to his C-SPAN appearance.
Gerber’s affidavit said that the “apparent organizer” of the church protest dubbed “Operation Pullup” was Armstrong, and that “Armstrong and Allen appear to be the leaders of Operation Pullup and the meeting of agitators” which was held prior to storming the church.
“Some of the protesters also physically obstructed some parishioners as they attempted to leave the church and the adjacent parking areas,” the affidavit said. “The video shows multiple parishioners exiting Cities Church through multiple doors. Three unknown parishioners are observed falling to the ground while exiting Cities Church through the north side door.”
The affidavit also said that agitators could be heard blowing whistles and yelling “ICE Out!” and “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” inside the church, and that “it appears that the parishioners are confused and shocked by the agitators’ conduct.”
The ICE agent writing the affidavit said that “I also observed a female parishioner in the corner of the church holding two toddlers in a protective way, with what appears to be a look of anxiety and fear on her face.”
“Based on the video footage, it appears that the conduct of […] Allen and other agitators is intimidating and physically obstructing some of the parishioners’ freedom of movement,” the affidavit stated, adding that “other agitators were later seen intimidating and obstructing the pastor’s freedom of movement.”
Allen shared a post on Facebook shortly after leading the agitators in their protest inside the church.
“Friends, Here is a clip of our demonstration this morning at Cities Church in St. Paul. David Easterwood is a Pastor at this church and the Acting Field Director for the ICE office in St. Paul. It’s time for judgment to begin, and it will begin in the House of God!!!” Armstrong posted that Sunday.
Armstrong gave a “thank you to all of the activists who showed up” and also thanked alleged “independent journalists” such as “DawokeFarmer2” (Kelly) and former CNN host Don Lemon — whom the DOJ unsuccessfully sought to charge in connection with the disruption of the church services.
Armstrong also gave a “special thanks” to a number of activists, including Allen, and said the “mission” had been “co-organized” by Black Lives Matter Minnesota, Black Lives Matter Twin Cities Metro, and the Racial Justice Network.
Parishioners “shaken up” and “terrorized”, children weeping
Gerber’s affidavit also said that clergy at the church advised St. Paul Police Department Sergeant Ilya Tereshko “that their parishioners were shaken up during the incident and many left early due to the protesters.”
The affidavit said that according to a dispatch form by the police department, “Victim 2 broke her arm exiting through the Cities Church office door when proceeding towards Saratoga Street. When Victim 2 came out the door and was running, she slipped and broke her arm.” The woman known as “Victim 2” told local police that “they were terrorized, our children were weeping, college students and young women were sobbing, it was impactful and it will take time to work through.”
“Victim 4” also “informed agents that members of their parish attempted to retrieve their children from the childcare area located downstairs, but the agitators were blocking the stairs, and the parents were unable to get to their children.” The female victim “recalled one agitator was threatening, aggressive, and intimidating towards parishioners” and that “this agitator was screaming and getting in people’s faces, to include women and young children” and further that “this agitator continued to scream in the faces of young children while they were crying.”
A man referred to as “Victim 6” recalled “people shouting and running, children crying, as well as people singing and praying. … Victim 6 recalled his children stating to him, ‘Daddy, I thought you were going to die.’ Victim 6 acknowledged that his children are traumatized.”
Former NAACP leader “unapologetic” about leading agitators in church protest
The day before her arrest, Armstrong told the far-left outlet Democracy Now! that “we are unapologetic about going into the church.” Armstrong’s personal website describes her as “an award-winning civil rights lawyer, scholar-activist, and past president of the Minneapolis NAACP.”
“Protests and activism have become a regular part of life for many little ones. They see people marching down city streets from their car seats. Their older siblings and cousins are joining high school walkouts. They see pink hats, BLM signs, and street art calling for change […] and they’re sure to have many questions,” a description for Armstrong’s book says. “J is for Justice makes the answers as simple as the ABCs. Inside this antiracism book for kids, discover: a powerful discussion starter, kid-friendly language, vibrant illustrations, and chants for kids.”
Armstrong leads the Racial Justice Network, and was a professor of law at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis for more than a decade, where she formed the Community Justice Project in partnership with the St. Paul chapter of the NAACP. She told Voyage Minnesota that “in 2017, I ran for mayor of Minneapolis on a police accountability and racial justice platform.” Her bid was unsuccessful.
She was also previously the director of the Minnesota African American Museum, whose building ended up being sold at auction in 2015 according to the Star Tribune. Armstrong also chaired the Minnesota State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights and chaired the Everybody In activist group, according to a speaker’s bio for her.
“Homeland Security Investigators and FBI agents arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong who played a key role in orchestrating the Church Riots in St. Paul, Minnesota,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced on X last week. “She is being charged with a federal crime under 18 USC 241. Religious freedom is the bedrock of the United States – there is no first amendment right to obstruct someone from practicing their religion.”
Armstrong’s lawyer, Kushner, told Democracy Now! after his client’s arrest that “this has nothing to do with enforcing the law” and “it has nothing to do with protecting anyone’s religious rights” as he claimed that “it’s all about — it’s about, frankly, just about fascism.”
St. Paul public schools board member charged for church disruption
Chauntyll Allen told TMZ the day after the protest that she did not regret disrupting the church services, saying that “I believe that’s what needed to be done to get the message across.”
Allen is listed as a member of the school board for St. Paul Public Schools since 2020. Her profile says that “in addition to serving as a board member, Chauntyll is also a youth advocate and educator.” She is listed as a member of a number of school board committees, including the executive team, the sustainability committee, the equity committee, and the chair of the “Afrocentric School/Program Work Group.”
Allen also leads the Love First Twin Cities group, with her profile there stating that she is also a leader of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities. Her biography states that she is an “African Descendant of Slaves (ADOS) and longtime front-line community organizer, educator and youth activist” and that “her approach is both holistic and healing, recognizing the resiliency and ingenuity required of Black families who are navigating and surviving systems designed for them to fail every single day.”
There is also a “Chauntyll Allen for Schoolboard” website which says that Allen is “now running for Ward 4 City Council in Saint Paul.”
“We should continue to interrupt spaces,” Allen told TMZ the day after the church protest.
DHS soon announced on X that Allen “has been charged with conspiracy to deprive rights for her role in the St. Paul church riots.”
Da Woke Farmer: “It’s time to shut this country down”
Kelly said in a Facebook post late last week with the caption “I’m sure they’ll be coming for me next” that “they’ve just arrested Nekima Armstrong for our protest on Sunday.”
“You know, my lawyers tell me they have no fucking case. This use of the FACE Act and the KKK Act is complete bullshit, but let’s be honest: they don’t fucking care. They don’t believe in the rule of law. They’re fascists.”
Kelly added: “Get in the fucking streets now. It’s time to shut this country down. We are at fascism. The republic has fucking fallen.”
Kelly — who goes by “Da Woke Farmer” on TikTok and Facebook — says that “I agitate demons using the 1st amendment while documenting everything for Nuremberg 2.0” and that “I fight fascism with the 1st Ammendment! [sic]”
A fundraiser on GoFundMe originally launched by Kelly last year to “help me practice my 1st amendment rights!!!” has raised more than $115,000 as of Wednesday. The descriptor for the fundraiser is “Help Me to Continue Agitating the Nazis.”
“Come and get me, Pam Bondi. … All power to the people,” Kelly said on TikTok last week.
Attorney General Pam Bondi replied “okay” on X following his arrest.
“William Kelly is now in custody,” Bondi tweeted last week. “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.”
Noem also said on X that Kelly “is being charged with conspiracy to deprive rights, a federal crime, for his involvement in the St. Paul church riots.”
Don Lemon dodges any charges, despite DOJ’s efforts
The former CNN host ran a lengthy on-the-ground livestream of the pre-planning for the church protest as well as of the disruption inside the church itself.
The Free Beacon pointed out that Lemon interviewed Armstrong shortly before the agitators headed for the church, with her telling him that “we show up somewhere that is a key location” and that “they don’t expect us to come there, and then we disrupt business as usual.”
“These are resistance protesters that are planning an operation that we’re going to follow them on,” Lemon said on his livestream shortly before the protest. “I can’t tell you exactly what they’re doing.” 
Lemon called it a planned demonstration “where they surprise people, catch them off guard, and hold them to account.” At one point, he moved away from the leaders of the protest as they planned their disruption of the church, saying that “because they are strategizing, I don’t want to get too much of their information there.”
Lemon also entered the church during the protest.
“I’m looking at a young man who’s in the corner. He’s frightened, he’s scared, he’s crying. People are leaving church,” Lemon said during his livestream, claiming at one point that he was “just here photographing, I’m a journalist.”
The DOJ court filing said Lemon left the church roughly thirteen minutes after a pastor asked him to get out.
Lemon sought to do some apparent damage control the night after the protest. “I had no affiliation to that organization. I didn’t even know they were going to this church until we followed them there,” he said in a Facebook video. “Why don’t you talk to the actual person who is in charge of the organization and whose idea it was to have the protest at the church before you start blaming me for stuff for which you have no idea about?”
“This is what the First Amendment is about, the freedom to protest. I’m sure people here don’t like it, but protests are not comfortable,” Lemon had remarked at one point during the livestream amidst the organized disruption in the church.
“A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest!” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said on X in response to that claim by Lemon. “It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws! Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo journalism of disrupting a prayer service. You are on notice!”
A magistrate judge and then an appeals court both reportedly rejected efforts by the DOJ to charge Lemon for his involvement in the church protest.
“The magistrate’s reported actions confirm the nature of Don’s First Amendment protected work this weekend in Minnesota as a reporter,” Lemon’s attorney Abbe Lowell, who had also previously represented Hunter Biden and others, said in a statement to the press. “It was no different than what he has done for more than 30 years, reporting and covering newsworthy events on the ground and engaging in constitutionally protected activity as a journalist.”

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