Federal agents on Thursday arrested and charged three activists accused of leading a mob into a Minnesota church and disrupting a religious service, doing so in protest against immigration enforcement.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the three — Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen and William Kelly — were taken into custody by FBI and Homeland Security Investigation agents after they were linked to the “coordinated attack” at Cities Church in St. Paul.
“Listen loud and clear: We do not tolerate attacks on places of worship,” Ms. Bondi said on social media.
Official charges against the two suspects were not shared by authorities.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the two women were charged with conspiracy against rights. Exact charges against Mr. Kelly were not shared at the time of his arrest.
Mr. Kelly appeared to be the activist who filmed himself confronting parishioners and berating them inside the sanctuary for not supporting anti-ICE demonstrations in the city.
Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, said protesters could be charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which protects people’s right to go to abortion clinics and houses of worship without interference.
Ms. Bondi hinted that more arrests could be announced soon.
The protesters affiliated with the Racial Justice Network and other activist groups targeted Cities Church because they said Pastor Dave Easterwood works with U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the state.
Protests spread throughout the Twin Cities area this month after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good as she drove her car on Jan. 7.
Videos of the incident showed Good driving onto a street in which immigration officers were conducting a sweep and partially blocking the road with her vehicle.
As ICE agents approached her and told her to get out of the car, according to the video, Good’s partner can be heard saying, “Drive, baby, drive.”
At that point, Good accelerates and appears to hit ICE Agent Jonathan Ross with her vehicle. He responded by firing three shots at Good.
Protests erupted in the city following the shooting, including last weekend’s potentially criminal demonstration at Cities Church.
“This cannot be a house of God while harboring someone directing ICE agents to wreak havoc on our community,” Ms. Armstrong told journalist Don Lemon, who embedded himself with protesters. “I am a reverend on top of being a lawyer and an activist, so I come here in the power of the almighty God.”
Also involved with the protest was Black Lives Matter Minnesota, which posted a video of the demonstration on Facebook with the message, “Up with Christ and down with ICE.”
St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, a Democrat, said Wednesday that local police did respond to Sunday’s disruption at the church, but not until after the demonstrators dispersed.
Ms. Her said she agreed that houses of worship are “sacred spaces” but so are other locations, including medical facilities and schools, where federal agents have sought to arrest illegal immigrants.
“If our federal government and our friends from the other side of the aisle want us to respect sacred spaces, which I believe are churches, a place of worship is a sacred space, that means that we have to also respect other spaces, such as hospitals,” she told PBS News.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has defended the protesters, saying such activism is the price of living in a free society, while Democratic state Rep. Leigh Finke called for demonstrators to keep it up until ICE leaves the state.
