A civil rights lawyer arrested during a church protest against immigration enforcement is accusing the White House of deliberately humiliating her by publishing an AI-manipulated image that falsely depicted her as hysterical and broken.

Nekima Levy Armstrong, a longtime social justice advocate, said the altered photo was designed to undermine her dignity after authorities failed to intimidate her through arrest alone. “They couldn’t break me by arresting me,” she told The New York Times. “So, they doctored an image to show the world a false iteration of that time to make me look weak.”

Levy Armstrong, 49, was among nine people arrested during a protest inside a church opposing federal immigration enforcement operations. Justice Department officials alleged the demonstration interfered with religious freedom, though video from the scene showed protesters chanting and congregants exiting the service without violence.

A widely circulated photo from Levy Armstrong’s arrest originally showed her walking calmly, head held high, her expression composed. The version later posted by the White House told a very different story. In the altered image, Levy Armstrong appears distraught, tears streaming down her face, mouth open as if crying out, her hair disheveled. According to Levy Armstrong, the transformation was not subtle and not accidental.

“Reducing my image to some scared crying woman was just so degrading,” she said. “It just shows how far the office of the president has fallen.” She compared the image to racist caricatures of Black Americans used during the Jim Crow era to strip people of dignity and credibility.

Levy Armstrong said she first learned about the doctored image while still in jail, after her husband mentioned it during a phone call. When she later saw it herself, she described feeling disgusted and stunned that the federal government would engage in what she called tabloid-level behavior. “The presidency is supposed to symbolize the world’s greatest superpower,” she said. “Instead they acted like a $2 tabloid.”

When questioned about the image at the time, White House deputy communications director Kaelan Dorr dismissed it as a “meme,” a response that has only intensified criticism. Civil liberties advocates warn that the use of AI-altered images by government officials to mock or demean detainees represents a dangerous escalation in state messaging.

The arrests themselves have also drawn scrutiny. In addition to activists, reporters who entered the church to document the protest were taken into custody. Among them was Don Lemon, the former CNN anchor, who has said he plans to fight the charges.

Justice Department officials accused the protesters of conspiring to interfere with religious freedom and attempting to intimidate worshippers. Activists, however, say the protest was aimed at drawing attention to aggressive immigration enforcement actions and recent deaths linked to federal operations.