Last Sunday, anti-ICE “protestors” disrupted a church service for Cities Church because their pastor, David Easterwood, was a field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota. The unpeaceful protestors proceeded to berate the worshippers of the church with shouts of Renee Good’s name and other inflammatory remarks, some of which were filmed by TikTokers like William Kelly and “journalist” Don Lemon. The former was verbally hostile towards those inside the church.
The administration was quick to promise action and arrests for the agitators, citing the enforcement of the FACE Act and the KKK Act, which pertain to the disruption of one’s rights and access to religious services. The subsequent days failed to yield any arrests, drawing online scrutiny. The base is increasingly skeptical towards Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem, Harmeet Dillon, and Kash Patel, each of whom are DEI hires in the second Trump Administration.
On Thursday, the FBI announced the arrest of several BLM activists: Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen. Armstrong was cited as the ringleader of the mob and has a history of BLM activism. She is a law professor who served as president of the NAACP in 2015-2016. Her political aspirations have largely been unsuccessful, yet she remained a local activist in Minnesota, where her Wayfinder NGO has raised over a million dollars for anti-poverty activism while she receives a salary exceeding $200K, which is more than was dispersed in their 2024 filing. Armstrong has made seven figures for her activism grift. Allen, on the other hand, is an elected school board member for St. Paul, MN, since 2020. She opposed bringing police back into the schools after a black teen stabbed another to death in 2022 and only received a juvenile manslaughter charge, basically allowing him to get away with murder after turning 21.
Subsequently, William Kelly, the TikToker who produced the viral harassment video inside Cities Church was the third protester arrested. Kelly has a history harassing churchgoers of Christ’s Church DC, where Pete Hegseth goes and Joe Rigney preaches. Coincidentally, Rigney was instrumental in the founding of Cities Church. Kelly was yelling a variety of expletives at the congregants and proceeded to dare Bondi to arrest him. He found out.
The DOJ has attempted to charge Don Lemon for his involvement in the mob, as he was on the inside of the church during the incident and supported the mob by feeding them donuts when they stormed the church. Federal magistrate Zia Faruqui, a foreigner, refused to sign the criminal complaint against Lemon, which would mean the government will have to wait for another judge to sign or receive an indictment from a grand jury. The judge’s signature on a criminal complaint is more akin to that of a notary than a ruling, with the filing party signing under oath that the information is truthful. Under a complaint, the defendant would be entitled to a preliminary hearing unless a federal indictment is issued by a grand jury.
In Minnesota, there is only one federal district, which means a jury pool consists of the entire state rather than an urban center. This week, the DOJ issued subpoenas to Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for their impediment of ICE operations.
Analysis
The DOJ has a heavy burden that requires the utmost competence. These culprits who stormed Cities Church are a judicial lay-up, which they need to knock down. The three that were charged are whales, both figuratively and literally. Rather than random participants, they were local Democrat operatives with political clout. The administration delivered their first batch of arrests, with only Lemon remaining to be charged. For good reasons, many have been skeptical of AG Pam Bondi’s performance after her mishandling of the Epstein files and the general incompetence. Thus far, the DOJ has been slow to arrest protesters for interfering with ICE operations. Any such protester, if identified, can easily be prosecuted for Obstruction of Justice (18 U.S.C. § 1505) which carries a five-year sentence. Impeding federal law enforcement in transit during official operations easily meets this threshold.
The problems are two-fold: identification and legal filings. The DOJ has to identify the culprits whom are numerous and draft individualized complaints for each member as to the specifics of their actions. This would be incredibly time consuming amidst other operations, while pepper spray and other forceful tactics offer more immediate efficacy. For example, breaking their car windows is a simple way to fine them hundreds of dollars via auto-glass repairs, which is especially needed in the winter. Using dye-packs to mark protesters is another tactic that can be used for identification, similar to catching bank robbers.
People on the right need to lower their time preference for justice, understanding that the bureaucracy moves much slower. The administration delivered, but there is much more work to do.
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2 Responses
“The base is increasingly skeptical towards Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem, Harmeet Dillon, and Kash Patel, each of whom are DEI hires in the second Trump Administration.” You think these four were employed as a result of diversity, equity, and inclusion? Please provide evidence supporting that statement.
It’s a good start. I wonder if Lemon is charged that he would be considered some gayish martyr so who knows if that will happen. For now this incident appears to be local and no copycat nationwide.