Tensions in Minnesota are continuing to rise after anti-ICE demonstrators crashed a church service on Sunday in protest of a pastor who reportedly leads a local ICE field office.
The incident, which comes after the fatal shooting of Renee Good, sparked fury among the Trump administration, with the president declaring protesters should be thrown in jail.
Highlights
- Anti-ICE protesters disrupted a Minnesota church service to protest Pastor David Easterwood, who reportedly leads a local ICE field office.
- President Trump condemned the protesters, calling them 'highly trained troublemakers' who should be jailed or removed from the country.
- The DOJ is investigating protesters under the FACE Act for disrupting worship, with officials emphasizing protection for places of religious worship.
- Civil rights activists condemned Easterwood's dual role as pastor and ICE leader, calling it unacceptable amidst ICE's controversial tactics.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who is widely credited with shaping Trump’s immigration crackdown, also issued a warning to local law enforcement.
Donald Trump called for the protesters to be jailed
Image credits: Jim Vondruska/Getty Images
Footage shared by Black Lives Matter Minnesota on Facebook showed protesters disrupting a service at Cities Church in St Paul.
The clip, which lasted around 40-minutes, captured the crowd chanting, “Justice for Renee Good” and “ICE Out” as worshipers were seen abandoning the service.
“Just watched footage of the Church Raid in Minnesota by the agitators and insurrectionists,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday.
“These people are professionals! No person acts the way they act. They are highly trained to scream, rant, and rave, like lunatics, in a certain manner, just like they are doing.”
Image credits: Donald Trump
“They are troublemakers who should be thrown in jail, or thrown out of the Country.”
Organizers said the protest was, in part, sparked by one of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, being in charge of the ICE field office in St. Paul.
Easterwood is listed as a pastor on the Cities Church website, and his details match those of a David Easterwood who leads the ICE office, AP reported.
He was also seen appearing alongside Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a press conference last October.
In court filings earlier this month, seen by AP, Easterwood defended ICE tactics such as spraying Minnesotans with chemical irritants and swapping license plates.
Image credits: Black Lives Matter Minnesota
He argued that flash-bang grenades were essential in protecting agents and aiding in crowd control, as the department is experiencing increasing threats.
Outside of the church service on Sunday, civil rights activist Nekima Levy Armstrong told the crowd that it was “unacceptable” for Easterwood to be a pastor while heading up ICE operations.
“How dare somebody claim to be a pastor while overseeing evil,” she said.
In a statement to AP, she added, “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.
“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.”
Tensions have been rising since the death of Renee Good earlier this month
Image credits: Black Lives Matter Minnesota
The Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is now investigating the protesters for potential violations of the federal FACE Act, which protects access to places of religious worship free of force or threats of force.
U.S. Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a statement on X, “No one has a right to protest by trespassing into a private house—especially a house of God almighty.
“Freedom of the press does not protect journalists, nor anyone else, when they are actively committing crimes. @AGPamBondi ’s @TheJusticeDept won’t stand for it!”
Stephen Miller also warned local and state authorities in Minneapolis to stand down.
“Only federal officers are upholding the law. Local and state police have been ordered to stand down and surrender,” he wrote on X.
Image credits: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Several others in the Trump administration reacted sharply to the protest, including Attorney General Pam Bondi.
"I just spoke to the Pastor in Minnesota whose church was targeted. Attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law," she 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."
Good, 37, was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross while in her vehicle in Minneapolis on January 7.
The Trump administration has insisted that Good attempted to run Ross over with her car and that he acted in self-defense.
That explanation has been strongly rejected by witnesses and local lawmakers, including Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Image credits: Scott Olson/Getty Images
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said that it had reluctantly withdrawn from the case after initially being assigned to investigate Good’s killing.
Joseph H. Thompson, the second-ranking official at the U.S. attorney’s office, was one of six federal prosecutors to resign over the handling of the case and had reportedly clashed with senior officials who overruled BCA involvement.
Since Good’s killing, protesters and ICE agents have continued to clash as the Trump administration carries out its largest immigration enforcement operation in the state to date.