FBI arrests anti-ICE activists over Minnesota ‘church riot’
The FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security have arrested three anti-ICE activists who invaded a Minnesota church and disrupted last week’s Sunday service.
Nekima Levy Armstrong, William Kelly, and Chauntyll Louisa Allen have been charged under the 1994 FACE Act, which protects worshippers from intimidation and physical obstruction at religious sites.
“Religious freedom is the bedrock of the United States – there is no First Amendment right to obstruct someone from practicing their religion,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X on Thursday.
Homeland Security Investigators and FBI agents arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong who played a key role in orchestrating the Church Riots in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is being charged with a federal crime under 18 USC 241. Religious freedom is the bedrock of the United States -… pic.twitter.com/O9yp4nRio1
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) January 22, 2026
On January 18, dozens of protesters entered Cities Church in St. Paul, chanting anti-ICE slogans. The activists alleged that one of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, leads an ICE field office. Easterwood was previously named as a defendant in a lawsuit alleging abuse of power by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Attorney General Pam Bondi described the protest as a “coordinated attack” on a place of worship, while the Department of Homeland Security said the activists participated in “church riots.”
Armstrong has denied any wrongdoing. “Why are people who are raising their voices on behalf of the vulnerable, on behalf of the poor, in the name of Jesus Christ, the ones being persecuted?” she told the news outlet Democracy Now! on Wednesday.
The incident took place amid heightened tensions in Minnesota following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent on January 7. The Department of Homeland Security alleged that Good attempted to ram agents with her car. Minnesota Democrats said the shooting was completely unjustified.
