Federal Agents Arrest Two Activists Over Anti-ICE Protest at a Minnesota Church

Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday that federal agents arrested two activists over an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest that disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Bondi said in a post on X that Homeland Security Investigations and FBI agents arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong, who she said helped organize a “coordinated attack on Cities Church.” Bondi later said a second person, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, was also arrested.

Armstrong is an attorney and the former president of the Minneapolis NAACP.

On Sunday, protesters interrupted a service at Cities Church and chanted “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good.” They called on one of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, who is believed to be the same David Easterwood who leads ICE’s local field office, to resign.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on X that Armstrong will be charged under a federal law that makes it a crime to conspire to violate someone’s rights.

“There is no First Amendment right to obstruct someone from practicing their religion,” Noem said.

Armstrong has defended the protest.

“We did not rush into that church. We actually went and sat down and participated in the service,” Armstrong said on CNN on Wednesday evening.

“I think the question should be what would lead a church like Cities Church to have someone in a role that presents an inherent conflict of interest as being both a pastor as well as not just an ICE agent, but the director of ICE in Minnesota,” she added.

The arrests come as protests have spread in Minnesota over a deportation surge there and the fatal shooting of U.S. citizen Renee Good by an ICE agent earlier this month.