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Fatherland Security and FBI brokers arrested three protesters in reference to a demonstration that interrupted Sunday carrier at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, Attorney Celebrated Pam Bondi said Thursday on social media.

The protesters — Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen and William Kelly — and others focused on the demonstration objected to a pastor at Cities Church who they said works for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Meanwhile, a federal Justice of the Peace resolve rejected a prison criticism in opposition to journalist Don Lemon, who said he became at the church whisper attributable to he became reporting on it, per a provide acutely aware of the topic, who described Bondi as “mad” by the resolution.

Several organizers of the whisper were calling for the resignation of pastor David Easterwood, who they are saying is moreover the performing director of an ICE self-discipline office in St. Paul. In that feature, Easterwood spoke alongside Fatherland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about ICE job in October, per video from NBC affiliate KARE of Minneapolis.

Noem shared a photograph of Armstrong’s arrest on social media Thursday, announcing she became being held on conspiracy charges alleging that she played “a key role in orchestrating the Church Riots in St. Paul, Minnesota.”

“Religious freedom is the bedrock of the United States — there is no First Amendment right to obstruct someone from practicing their religion,” Noem said.

Jordan Kushner, Armstrong’s felony skilled, said in a mobile telephone call Thursday afternoon that his consumer became “arrested for doing a peaceful nonviolent protest in a church” and that demonstrators “were engaged in an exercise of free speech.”

Justice Division officials had said they were pursuing the investigation basically based upon the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994, which covers reproductive well being products and services, as well as locations of love, underneath a compromise legislators reached in the wake of several killings of abortion doctors.

Kushner said he has no longer but got official documentation about what charges Armstrong faces. She is being detained at the federal courthouse, he said.

In a social media submit, DHS said Allen “has been charged with conspiracy to deprive rights for her feature in the St. Paul church riots.”

Allen is a St. Paul faculty board member.

NBC Recordsdata has reached out to Allen for comment nonetheless didn’t without lengthen get dangle of a response. An felony skilled has no longer but been listed for her.

Kelly, who goes by the username “DaWokeFarmer” on social media, couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday, and an felony skilled has no longer but been listed for him.

He posted a video on TikTok about three hours sooner than his arrest Thursday condemning Armstrong’s arrest.

“My attorneys expose me they’ve no f—— case,” Kelly said in the video, adding that using the FACE Act to justify the arrests “is complete bulls—.”

Kelly became amongst the protesters in the church. He posted two videos on TikTok showing his participation Sunday.

Movies from all the plan thru the church showed dozens of demonstrators marching as they chanted “ICE out” and “David Easterwood, out now.”

Rebecca, a churchgoer who witnessed the whisper and requested that her final name be withheld attributable to privacy concerns, told NBC Recordsdata on Wednesday that she began listening to voices coming from the back of the church after congregants ended a prayer proper thru Sunday’s carrier.

The pastor then invited the folks in the back to sit down down, nonetheless they remained standing and began chanting “ICE Out” and “Justice for Renee Accurate,” Rebecca said, adding that Sunday became the basic time she had attended products and services at Cities Church.

Churchgoers began whispering to one one other about what to accomplish, and then several children burst into tears proper thru the commotion, Rebecca said. Some households streamed out, while others shouted at the protesters to fade.

Rebecca said that when she made up our minds to fade, a protester approached her asking, “You call this apartment of the Lord, nonetheless you enjoy gotten an ICE director for pastor?” Rebecca said she became anxious to be taught that, attributable to she would not approve of the tactics being mature by immigration officers.

“We’re seeing contaminated happen, seeing loads of dehumanizing,” Rebecca said, adding that she never feared for her safety while the protest happened in the church. “There are no do’s and don’ts with protests.”

In an announcement Tuesday, Cities Church condemned the whisper, announcing demonstrators “accosted participants of our congregation, fearful children, and created a scene marked by intimidation and risk.”

“Such conduct is shameful, unlawful, and will not be tolerated,” it said, adding that it became “evaluating next steps with our legal counsel.”

The scenes sparked intense reactions online and from Trump administration officials, prompting the Justice Division to launch an investigation Monday.

In a livestream with Lemon, Armstrong said, “They can not pretend to be a apartment of God while harboring someone who is directing ICE brokers to wreak havoc amongst our community, and who killed Renee Accurate!”

Armstrong, who is moreover an ordained minister and a civil rights felony skilled, told NBC Recordsdata on Monday that the church invited them in, so she took it as an “various for dialogue” and desired to steal awareness with the congregation about who Easterwood is so participants could well mediate whether or no longer they truly feel happy taking their households to the congregation.

The arrests got right here after demonstrations intensified all the plan thru Minnesota in the wake of Accurate’s fatal shooting by an ICE officer on Jan. 7.

Doug Wardlow, director of litigation at Graceful North Graceful, the crew offering apt illustration to Cities Church, said in an announcement Thursday: “The arrests and the prosecutions to follow will help ensure that mob aggression like Cities Church experienced will not be repeated in any other house of worship.”

CORRECTION (Jan. 23, 2026, 10:35 a.m. ET): A previous model of this text misstated the region of the church the put the whisper occurred. It became in St. Paul, Minnesota, no longer Minneapolis.