Justice Dept. charges 30 more people over anti-ICE protest at Minnesota church

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department is charging ⁠30 additional people in connection with a January anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest at Cities Church in Minnesota.

The department unsealed the indictment ‌Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, in which 25 of the 30 have been arrested, with more to come, Ms. Bondi said.

The original nine defendants in the criminal civil rights case, which includes former CNN anchor Don Lemon, have pleaded not guilty.

It accuses the 39 defendants of partaking in a “coordinated takeover-style attack” and engaging in “acts of oppression, intimidation, threats, interference, and physical obstruction.”

Because of the protest, the pastor, allegedly an ICE officer, and the congregation were “forced to terminate the church’s worship service, congregants fled the church building out of fear for their safety, other congregants took steps to implement an emergency plan, and young children were left to wonder, as one child put it, if their parents were going to die,” the indictment says.

The defendants are being charged under a federal law that prohibits interfering with or intimidating people exercising their religious rights in a house of worship. First-time offenders can face a prison sentence of up to a year and up to a $10,000 fine.

“YOU CANNOT ATTACK A HOUSE OF WORSHIP. If you do so, you cannot hide from us — we will find you, arrest you, and prosecute you. This Department of Justice STANDS for Christians and all Americans of faith,” Ms. Bondi said on social media.

Demonstrators entered the Cities Church in Minneapolis on Jan. 18 amid rising tensions over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics in Minneapolis that left two U.S. citizens dead.

One member of the congregation filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the group unlawfully disrupted a service last month as part of a coordinated political demonstration.

The lawsuit accuses eight people, including Mr. Lemon, of civil conspiracy, aiding and abetting, intentional infliction of emotional distress, interference with religious exercise and trespassing.

Mr. Lemon seemingly asked Cities Church’s lead pastor, Jonathan Parnel, for his reaction to the crowd interrupting the service in his live stream of the protest.

“This is unacceptable, it’s shameful. It’s shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship,” the pastor said. “I have to take care of my flock.”