Two more people have been arrested in connection with an anti-ICE protest inside Cities Church in St. Paul, Minn., on Jan. 18, according to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Bondi stated on Monday that Ian Davis Austin and Jerome Deangelo Richardson were arrested for their alleged roles in the “coordinated attack” on the Baptist church, during which protesters disrupted services and blocked congregants from leaving.
“If you riot in a place of worship, we will find you,” Bondi wrote.
With the latest arrests, nine people have now been charged in connection with the incident, according to an unsealed federal indictment. Those charged include protest organizer Nekima Valdez Levy-Armstrong; Chauntyll Louisa Allen; William Scott Kelly; Trahern Jeen Crews; Jamael Lydell Lundy; Georgia Ellyse Fort; and independent journalist Don Lemon.
The document states that “a group of approximately 20-40 agitators, including all of the defendants named in this indictment, entered the church in a coordinated takeover-style attack and engaged in acts of oppression, intimidation, threats, interference and physical obstruction.”
According to the criminal complaint, the congregation was forced to end services, congregants “fled the church building out of fear for their safety,” and “young children were left to wonder, as one child put it, if their parents were going to die.”
The indictment, filed in the U.S. District Court of the District of Minnesota, charges all defendants with conspiracy to violate the right to religious freedom at a place of worship and with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
“Do not go into a house of worship and put people in fear. Do not conspire with others to do the same,” wrote Harmeet Dhillon, U.S. assistant attorney general for civil rights. “These are generally applicable principles and laws.”
