Justice Dept. investigating anti-ICE agitators who stormed Minnesota church service

by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News January 19, 2026

The Department of Justice is investigating an incident in Minnesota on Sunday in which anti-ICE agitators stormed a church service reportedly because they believed the pastor has ties to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the department is “investigating the potential violations of the federal FACE Act by these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshipers.”

Anti-ICE agitators invade Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota on Sunday. / Video Image

The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994 (FACE Act) in part prohibits the use or “threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking … or to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.”

Former CNN host Don Lemon live-streamed as anti-ICE protestors stormed Cities Church in St. Paul on Sunday.

“This is the beginning of what’s going to happen here,” Lemon said as the agitators shouted down the pastor and harassed parishioners.

“They’ve stopped the service — a lot of people, a number of people have left,” Lemon proclaimed. “This is what the First Amendment is about, the freedom to protest. I’m sure people here don’t like it, but protests are not comfortable.”

Lemon, of course, is wrong.

First Amendment protections for free speech and assembly do not extend to disrupting religious services on private property.

Cities Church in St. Paul (located in the historic St. Paul’s On the Hill building) is legally considered private property, even when open for public services.

Jonathan Parnell, the lead pastor, described the protest as “unacceptable,” adding that it is “shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship.”

Lemon claimed he had no idea the agitators were going to storm a church.

But video footage of Lemon admitting that he had foreknowledge that the agitators were going to enter a church and disrupt the sermon has surfaced.

Lemon admitted he was embedded with a Black Lives Matter activist and the group of anti-ICE agitators.

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