Tuesday, January 20, 2026

Anti-ICE Activists Storm Minnesota Church Service

Print Friendly Version of this pagePrint Get a PDF version of this webpagePDF


Activists disrupted a Sunday church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the incident for potential criminal violations of federal law.

Protesters claimed one of the church's pastors leads a local ICE field office.

Is this the new normal? Should pastors and parishioners begin to expect their worship services to be interrupted by people who disagree with their deeply held beliefs?

Be informed, not misled.

The Christian Post is reporting that "The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating after a group of activists in Minnesota disrupted a Sunday service at a Southern Baptist church in St. Paul, where a local official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement allegedly serves as a pastor."

"The protesters," the Post says, "including members of the Racial Justice Network and Black Lives Matter Minnesota, entered the sanctuary of Cities Church during the service led by senior pastor Jonathan Parnell. The protesters allege that one of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, leads a local ICE field office in St. Paul."

Is this the Left's new standard for shutting down Christian churches?

Seattle's KOMO News is reporting, "The protesters were with the Radical Justice Network, and they accused Cities Church pastor David Eastwood of being the acting ICE field office director in Minnesota, according to the New York Post."

KOMO continued, “This cannot be a house of God while harboring someone directing ICE agents to wreak havoc on our community,” one protester told former CNN host Don Lemon during a livestream. “I am a reverend on top of being a lawyer and an activist, so I come here in the power of the almighty God.”

Collin Rugg posted this on X:

NEW: Don Lemon tries lecturing a pastor on the First Amendment after a mob of far leftists stormed a church in Minneapolis.

Pastor: “This is unacceptable. It's shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship…”

Lemon: “Listen, there's a constitution, the First Amendment to freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest.”

Pastor: “We're here to worship Jesus because the hope of the world is Jesus Christ…”

Lemon: “But did you try to talk to them?”

Pastor: “No one is willing to talk. I have to take care of my church and my family, so I ask that you also leave this building.”

Imagine storming a church mid-worship and thinking you are the good guys.

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced that it would investigate what happened.

“The @CivilRights is investigating the potential violations of the federal FACE Act by these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshippers,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon wrote on X. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi said she spoke to the pastor and the incident is being met with “full force of federal law.”

Bondi wrote on X: “If state leaders refuse to act responsibly to prevent lawlessness, this Department of Justice will remain mobilized to prosecute federal crimes and ensure that the rule of law prevails.” 

Christian leaders have condemned anti-ICE agitators who stormed a church. 

Christian leaders demanded action from the government after protesters were filmed shouting at Cities Church congregants in St. Paul. The incident was captured on video by former CNN host Don Lemon, who followed the protesters.

The National Faith Advisory Board highlighted responses from Pastor Paul Chappell and Paula Michelle White, who serves as senior adviser to the White House Faith Office.

"We condemn the actions of Don Lemon and the group of activists who stormed Cities Church today in St. Paul, Minnesota, in clear violation of the FACE Act. Christians everywhere should demand that the Department of Justice arrest those who participated. We must protect religious liberty in this country," White wrote.

Chappell called on the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the incident and "apprehend those who broke the law."

"We must protect religious liberty in this country," Chappell told his congregation at Lancaster Baptist Church in California.

Takeaway

Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, condemned the incident as "unspeakably evil." He also urged law enforcement to take swift action.

"I normally do not post to social media on the Lord’s Day, but the unspeakably evil intrusion of a leftist mob into a Christian worship service today in Minneapolis must be called out for what it is—and Federal authorities should be fast and effective in response. May God bless this steadfast pastor, this faithful Gospel church, and the members who were traumatized, including children and youth. This was nothing less than the desecration of Christian worship."

Nekima Levy Armstrong, who participated in the protest and leads the local grassroots civil rights organization Racial Justice Network, dismissed the potential DOJ investigation as a sham and a distraction from federal agents’ actions in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

People forcefully shutting down church services is neither a "sham" nor a "distraction."

It is a blatant violation of people's Constitutional freedom of religion.

Nekima is either greatly uninformed or needs psychiatric help.

She said, “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,” who added she is an ordained reverend. “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.”

What she and about 50 or 60 other activists did last Sunday is a big deal. They are about to find out just how big a deal it is.

What occurred was not a protest; it was lawless harassment.

The interference was so significant that services were forced to end prematurely. Video footage captured by the protesters themselves and others shows them shouting insults and accusations at youth, children, and families,” the statement said.

It is they who should be checking their "theology" and their "heart." And their "Constitution."

I have, as a pastor, experienced something very close to this assault on religious freedom.

A number of years ago, I met and got to know the president of Guatemala. He had once been known as a murderous dictator---responsible for the death of thousands.

A Baptist missionary in the country had the opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him. He accepted Christ as his Savior and Lord. He turned from his wicked ways.

I invited President Ríos Mont to come and share his testimony with the church I pastored.

When I arrived at the church about 8 AM Sunday for the first of our two services at 9 and 11 AM, I was met by about 150 activists on the city sidewalks around our buildings. Most of them had bullhorns shouting profanities and slogans at those arriving for the first service. Including myself.

And at our guest speaker, when he arrived a little later.

I'll be sharing more details of this on the radio today, including the outcome of the demonstration.

Be Informed. Be Discerning Be Vigilant. Be Strong. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.

Posted by