Federal authorities arrested one of the demonstrators who disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, escalating a tense standoff between protesters, clergy, and the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement apparatus.
The Justice Department confirmed Thursday that Nekima Levy Armstrong was taken into custody following a protest Sunday at Cities Church, where chanting demonstrators briefly brought the service to a halt and prompted some congregants to leave. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrest on social media, saying agents from Homeland Security and the FBI were involved.
A neigbhor who saw what happened told local MPR news: “She was trying to turn around, and the ICE agent was in front of her car, and he pulled out a gun and put it right in — like, his midriff was on her bumper — and he reached across the hood of the car and shot her in the face like three, four times” / Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
The protest targeted David Easterwood, a pastor at the church whom organizers believe is also the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s St. Paul field office. Video footage showed dozens of demonstrators marching through the building chanting “ICE out” and demanding Easterwood’s resignation.
The demonstration was part of a broader wave of protests across Minnesota following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent two weeks earlier in Minneapolis, an incident that intensified anger amid a surge of federal immigration agents in the state.
The arrest comes as the Trump administration moves aggressively to suppress protests against immigration enforcement. President Donald Trump weighed in Tuesday on Truth Social after viewing footage of the church disruption, branding the demonstrators “agitators and insurrectionists” and suggesting they should be jailed or expelled from the country.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison pushed back, telling independent journalist Don Lemon that the protesters’ actions were protected speech. “Chanting cannot be a crime; it’s freedom of expression,” Ellison said. His comments came as federal prosecutors issued subpoenas to him and other Democratic officials, broadening an inquiry into their response to the administration’s immigration crackdown.
Cities Church condemned the protest in a statement, accusing demonstrators of intimidating congregants and frightening children. Lead pastor Jonathan Parnell said he would not comment on the employment of individual church members and expressed concern for Easterwood’s safety, insisting that Christian faith and law enforcement work are not incompatible.
