Two protesters have been apprehended in connection with the storming of a Minnesota church, where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent reportedly serves as a pastor. On Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrests of Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen. The women are accused of participating in an anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in St. Paul on Monday. Former CNN anchor Don Lemon also attended the protest, asserting that his participation was protected under the First Amendment.

According to Bondi, Armstrong, who leads one of the activist groups involved in the protest, played a significant role in organizing the event described as an attack on the church. Armstrong was seen conversing with Lemon during the protest, where she accused the church of “harboring” an ICE agent, Pastor David Easterwood. She stated, “This will not stand; they cannot pretend to be a house of God while harboring someone who is commanding ICE agents to terrorize our communities.” The church was targeted because Pastor David Easterwood also serves as the acting director of the St. Paul ICE field office.

The protest was orchestrated by several organizations, including the Racial Justice Network, Black Lives Matter Minnesota, and Black Lives Matter Twin Cities. Armstrong, who heads the Racial Justice Network, a local grassroots civil rights group, criticized the actions of ICE agents. She highlighted a recent incident involving the killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, describing such acts as “barbaric” and expressing disbelief that a federal official could also be a pastor. It remains unclear whether Easterwood was present during the church service, as he did not lead the part that was livestreamed.

Noem also confirmed Armstrong’s arrest, and shared a photograph of her looking downcast as she was escorted into custody wearing handcuffs. ‘Religious freedom is the bedrock of the United States – there is no first amendment right to obstruct someone from practicing their religion,’ Noem wrote on X. The Trump administration has given fewer details about Allen (pictured), but she frequently posts about anti-ICE resources on her social media accounts. She serves as a Saint Paul School Board public official, according to her Facebook page.

Easterwood has made headlines due to his work with ICE in recent months, after he responded to a lawsuit brought by local Minneapolis protester Susan Tincher. Tincher alleged that she was detained for asking an ICE agent to identify herself, which she says led several agents to pull her to the ground and handcuff her face-down in the snow. In a January 5 court filing, Easterwood defended ICE’s tactics in Minnesota such as swapping license plates and spraying protesters with chemical irritants. He wrote that federal agents were experiencing increased threats and aggression and crowd control devices like flash-bang grenades were important to protect against violent attacks. Easterwood testified that he was unaware of agents ‘knowingly targeting or retaliating against peaceful protesters or legal observers with less lethal munitions and/or crowd control devices.’ In response to the church demo, US Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said she is investigating alleged violations ‘by these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshippers.’

‘A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws!’ she said on social media. Armstrong, who is also an ordained reverend, dismissed the DOJ investigation as a sham and a distraction from federal agents’ actions in Minneapolis-St. Paul. ‘When you think about the federal government unleashing barbaric ICE agents upon our community and all the harm that they have caused, to have someone serving as a pastor who oversees these ICE agents, is almost unfathomable to me,’ she said. ‘If people are more concerned about someone coming to a church on a Sunday and disrupting business as usual than they are about the atrocities that we are experiencing in our community, then they need to check their theology and the need to check their hearts.’