Trump vows to protect churches in Minnesota from anti-ICE protesters  

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it is investigating protesters for disrupting a church service where an official with alleged ties to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a pastor. 

The Sunday morning worship service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, was disrupted when demonstrators stormed the sanctuary, chanting slogans and interrupting the service, according to Fox News. 

The disruption prompted a stern response from federal authorities, with promises to bring the full weight of the federal government to bear on people attacking and harassing both ICE agents and religious services. 

“President Trump will not tolerate the intimidation and harassment of Christians in their sacred places of worship,” said White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt. 

Videos circulating on social media showed protesters entering the church and shouting “Justice for Renee Good” just as the service began. 

The demonstrators allege the pastor is connected to ICE operations in the Twin Cities because a man with the same name was listed as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s St. Paul field office, Fox noted. 

One of those protesters is apparently Don Lemon, the unemployed live stream broadcaster, who was previously let go at CNN. 

Lemon is featured in a video accosting the pastor inside the church, as the pastor tells the former cable news network talk host, “We’re here to worship Jesus because that’s the hope of these cities, that’s the hope of the world.” 

“There’s a constitution and a First Amendment to freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest,” Lemon answered. 

But the First Amendment notably does not guarantee a right to enter a private church and disrupt a worship service. 

“I just spoke to the Pastor in Minnesota whose church was targeted,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “Attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law.” 

Bondi blamed state leaders, such as Minnesota’s Democrat Gov. Tim Walz, for not acting responsibly to prevent the disorder. 

“This Department of Justice will remain mobilized to prosecute federal crimes and ensure that the rule of law prevails,” she added. 

Christian leaders react

Christian leaders from around the nation expressed outrage and called for prayer after the incident. 

Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the protest was “right out of the playbook from the activists, the leftists, the Marxists, the revolutionaries of the 1960s.” 

“It’s a scandal,” Mohler wrote on his popular blog, The Briefing. “It’s a scandal that something like this could happen in the United States of America. It is a scandal that so many in American politics and in popular culture, entertainment, all the rest, are on the side of the protestors who just broke into an evangelical church gathered for Christian worship on the Lord’s Day.” 

Joe Rigney, the founding pastor of Cities Church and currently a pastor in Moscow, Idaho, called it a “brazen invasion of a Christian worship,” blaming not only the agitators, but especially the “Democratic politicians who have aided and encouraged them.” 

“This brazen invasion of a Christian worship gathering demonstrates the lawlessness of the modern left,” Rigney wrote in a column published by World. “Not content to disrupt lawful law enforcement activity, they have now resorted to targeting law enforcement officers, their families, and anyone connected to them, even in a house of worship. And they are breaking the law by invading a church in order to defend those who broke the law by invading our country.” 

Rigney called on Christians to pray, avoid placating protesters and take comfort in the Scriptures. 

Law enforcement officials and community observers described the scene as chaotic and unwelcome. 

‘ICE isn’t going anywhere’

The protest in St. Paul comes amid broader unrest in the region after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent during an enforcement operation in Minneapolis earlier this month. 

Good was obstructing federal law-enforcement operations when video shows she likely struck an ICE officer with her car, who then fired shots at Good, killing her. 

Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino complained over the weekend that ICE officers were subject to targeted attacks, including the throwing of hard objects such as ice and bottles, according to a video interview at Fox News. 

He also said ICE agents are being kicked out of hotels around Minneapolis. 

But ICE released a statement saying it will redouble its efforts. 

“Agitators aren’t just targeting our officers. Now they’re targeting churches, too,” said a statement by ICE online. “They’re going from hotel to hotel, church to church, hunting for federal law enforcement who are risking their lives to protect Americans.” 

The statement mentioned Gov. Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey as “responsible for whipping these mobs into a frenzy and then allowing them to run rampant.” 

“We won’t be deterred. ICE isn’t going anywhere,” the statement added. 

As the DOJ civil rights investigation proceeds, federal prosecutors will examine whether the protesters’ actions violated statutes protecting religious worship and public order, said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon. 

The video posted by Dhillon shows protesters entering the church sanctuary during worship and obstructing the service – conduct treated differently under federal law from protesting on public property. 

The incident raises potential exposure under the federal FACE Act, which prohibits interference with religious worship through physical obstruction or intimidation. It has often been used against pro-life protesters, and its constitutionality has been questioned by conservative legal groups, such as Alliance Defending Freedom. 

(Image credit: Screenshot/Cities Church)