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WASHINGTON — Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed on Friday that indictments have been issued for an additional 30 individuals accused of participating in a protest against immigration enforcement at a church in Minnesota.
Bondi shared via social media that authorities have already apprehended 25 people, with more arrests anticipated throughout the day.
“YOU CANNOT ATTACK A HOUSE OF WORSHIP. If you do, we will find you, arrest you, and prosecute you,” she asserted in her post. “This Department of Justice STANDS for Christians and all Americans of faith.”
The arrested individuals are expected to make an initial court appearance, where a magistrate judge will determine their release conditions.
Among those detained are independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, as well as well-known local activist Nekima Levy Armstrong. Armstrong was notably featured in a manipulated photo shared by the White House, depicting her in tears during her arrest. All have entered not guilty pleas to the civil rights charges levied against them.
In total, 39 people have been charged over the church protest and all are charged with conspiracy against religious freedom and interfering with the right of religious freedom.
Protesters descended on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 18 after learning that one of the church’s pastors also serves as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official. The protest drew swift condemnation from Trump administration officials and conservative leaders for disrupting a Sunday service.
The indictment says the “agitators” entered the church in a “coordinated takeover-style attack” and engaged in acts of intimidation and obstruction.
“Young children were left to wonder, as one child put it, if their parents were going to die,” the indictment says.
A lawyer for the church praised the Justice Department for charging more people.
“The First Amendment does not give anyone – regardless of profession, prominence, or politics – license to storm a church and intimidate, threaten, and terrorize families and children worshipping inside,” Doug Wardlow said in a statement.
The church protest came amid a tense couple months for Minnesota, where the Trump administration sent thousands of federal officers for Operation Metro Surge after a series of government fraud cases where the majority of defendants had Somali roots. Federal officers frequently deployed tear gas for crowd control in neighborhood clashes with activists, often detaining them along with immigrants.
On Jan. 7, a federal officer shot and killed 37-year-old mother Renee Good in south Minneapolis. In another fatal shooting one week after the church protest, a federal officer killed 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti.
Nationwide demonstrations erupted in response, followed by a change in Operation Metro Surge’s leadership and the eventual wind-down of the immigration enforcement operation in mid-February.
Since then, the Twin Cities have grappled with the impact to communities and the local economy. The city of Minneapolis said it suffered an impact of $203.1 million due to the operation, with tens of thousands of residents in need of urgent relief assistance.
The video in the player above is from a previous report.
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