Federal agents arrested two individuals in Minnesota on Thursday connected to an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a church service at Cities Church in St. Paul on Jan. 18, officials stated.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security condemned the demonstration as unlawful and stated that they are enforcing federal civil rights laws that protect houses of worship.
“We do not tolerate attacks on places of worship,” Bondi wrote in her announcement of the arrests.
Bondi stated that Homeland Security Investigations and FBI agents first arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney and local activist who “played a key role in organizing the coordinated attack” at the church.
She later released updates stating that agents also took into custody Chauntyll Louisa Allen, a member of the St. Paul School Board and founder of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities, and William Kelly, an activist who posted a video on social media daring authorities to arrest him.
Homeland Security shared a video of Allen’s arrest, stating that she has been charged with conspiracy to deprive rights for her role in the St. Paul church riots.
Levy Armstrong, founder of the Racial Justice Network, took credit for organizing the demonstration, in which protesters entered the church, accompanied by journalist Don Lemon, to accuse the pastor of being an acting field director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Videos from the service showed protesters interrupting worship and some congregants leaving the sanctuary.
Kristi Noem, the U.S. homeland security secretary, said Levy Armstrong is being charged under a federal civil rights statute that makes it a crime for two or more people to conspire to injure, threaten or intimidate someone in the free exercise of constitutional rights, including religious practice.
Noem shared a photo of Levy Armstrong’s arrest, writing, “Religious freedom is the bedrock of the United States—there is no First Amendment right to obstruct someone from practicing their religion.”
