DOJ investigating anti-ICE protest at St. Paul church
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating a protest that disrupted a Sunday morning church service in Minnesota.
Video posted by Black Lives Matter Minnesota, one of the organizers for the event, shows anti-ICE protestors disrupting a service at Cities Church in St. Paul. Protesters chanted “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good” while the service was in progress.
Another video, which has gone viral on social media, showed a protester confronting members of the congregation calling them “pretend Christians” and “comfortable white people.” Reports allege that the protestors discovered one of the church’s pastors works for U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement, calling the protest a “clandestine mission.”
This is just the latest development following the killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an ICE officer on Jan. 7. Good had driven into a roadway where agents were conducting enhanced immigration enforcement.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of Homeland Security, said Good’s vehicle was “attempting to run over our law enforcement officers.” She also said the officer feared for his life and fired defensive shots.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristie Noem called Good’s actions an “act of domestic terrorism.”
City and state leaders have denied this version of events though, stating that ICE's presence in the community is creating chaos and harm. Since the shooting, Minneapolis-Saint Paul has faced widespread protests, school closures, and violence.
Trump administration officials said the federal government is investigating Sunday’s protests, calling it a “heinous act.”
“There are already two prosecutors from my office on their way to Minneapolis, and they'll be there this morning. We have an FBI team assembled and local prosecutors as well,” said Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, on Monday morning.
“This is going to get the highest attention from the Department of Justice, because there is no more sacred right in our Constitution than the right to assemble and pray to God, and there are federal laws that protect that right,” Dhillon added. “What happened here was a shameful exercise of virtue signaling, disruption, fear, terror.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that federal officials will act to prosecute federal crimes, especially if state officials refuse to take action.
Church officials and Republicans have also been responding to the protest, which quickly captured national attention far beyond Minnesota.
Alex Plechash, chairman of the Republican Party of Minnesota, called out Democrats following the protest.
“When government closed churches, Democrats cheered,” Plechash said. “When mobs disrupt worship, Democrats look the other way. Governor Tim Walz and Senator Klobuchar: condemn this now!”
So far, Democrats both in Minnesota and nationally have been largely silent regarding the church protest.
Holy Bibles and hymnals rest in the back of a church pew as sunlight filters through stained glass windows. Photo: Aaron Burden / Unsplash
Elyse Apel, a graduate of Hillsdale College, is a reporter for The Center Square covering Colorado and Michigan. Her writing has been published in a wide variety of national publications from the Washington Examiner to The American Spectator and The Daily Wire.
