Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem spoke in Minneapolis on Oct. 24, 2025, alongside ICE professionals Tauria Rich, David Easterwood, Sam Westbay and Tonya Price. Easterwood, also a pastor at Cities Church in St. Paul, was the subject of a protest inside the church on Jan. 18, 2026. Renee Jones Schneider/Minnesota Star Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire and Reuters Jan 22, 2026 Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday morning that the FBI had arrested at least two leaders of a demonstration inside Cities Church in St. Paul, Minn., protesting one of the church’s pastors who works for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The FBI arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer and activist in the Twin Cities, and Chauntyll Louisa Allen, a community organizer and schoolboard member, according to Bondi’s posts on X. Bondi called Levy Armstrong a key organizer of the “coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.” “WE WILL PROTECT OUR HOUSES OF WORSHIP,” Bondi wrote, adding a prayer hands emoji. The protest inside Cities Church on Jan. 18 was a peaceful disruption of the service with chants of “ICE out!” and “Justice for Renee Good!” according to livestreams. It lasted for at least 23 minutes inside the church, according to Word&Way.Cities Church is a Southern Baptist church, and David Easterwood, one of the church’s pastors, also serves as the acting director of the ICE St. Paul field office. Several congregants could be seen speaking with protesters during the demonstration, and lead pastor Jonathan Parnell is seen pointing and saying, “Shame on you.” Levy Armstrong told Democracy Now! that she was one of four Black women who planned the protest. In the same interview, before her arrest, she said it would be hypocritical for Bondi and the Justice Department to arrest her but not to investigate the killing of Good. “How do you investigate and threaten to arrest nonviolent, peaceful protesters who are literally coming into a church to raise questions about this conflict of interest for this pastor?” she asked. “If they’re so concerned about what happens inside of churches, then why did Donald Trump roll back protections for churches when it comes to ICE? As a matter of fact, ICE agents can go into churches with a warrant, and they can take people out and detain them.” READ MORE: What to Do if ICE Comes to Your Church Journalist Don Lemon followed the protesters in, speaking with Parnell, who said the church was “here to worship Jesus.” In the livestream of the protest, Levy Armstrong questioned Easterwood could claim to worship God while leading ICE, recalling the killing of Renee Nicole Macklin Good and the “unleashing [of] military grade weapons on our community.” “How dare you claim to be a pastor of God and you are involved in evil in our community?” Levy Armstrong asks. “We are here as representatives for justice and righteousness and truth. We will not allow the house of God to perpetuate a fraud. This is not a house of God.” Minnesota’s attorney general Keith Ellison told Lemon that protest was “fundamental to American society” and defended the protesters’ actions under the First Amendment’s freedom of expression. While not common, church protests do have history in social justice movements. During the Civil Rights Movement, Black and white activists would participate in attempts to desegregate churches that didn’t allow non-white people into their services. Not all of those actions were protests, but some leaders, such as Rev. Ashton B. Jones, were arrested numerous times for disrupting church services. After he and a Black guest were denied seating in the main hall at First Baptist Church in Atlanta, Jones stood outside, welcoming churchgoers by saying “come right in, folks, worship a segregated God in a segregated church.” Jonathan Parnell, the church’s lead pastor, told the New York Times, that Easterwood was an unpaid pastor, and that it was not his practice to comment on outside employment, but that “You can be a Christian and work in law enforcement. That’s not an incompatibility.” “We are here as representatives for justice and righteousness and truth. We will not allow the house of God to perpetuate a fraud.” Nekima Levy Armstrong said during the protest. Mitchell Atencio is senior associate news editor, sojo.net. Don't Miss a Story!Sojourners is committed to faith and justice even in polarized times. Will you join us on the journey?By entering your email we'll send you our newsletter each Thursday. You can unsubscribe anytime. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem spoke in Minneapolis on Oct. 24, 2025, alongside ICE professionals Tauria Rich, David Easterwood, Sam Westbay and Tonya Price. Easterwood, also a pastor at Cities Church in St. Paul, was the subject of a protest inside the church on Jan. 18, 2026. Renee Jones Schneider/Minnesota Star Tribune via ZUMA Press Wire and Reuters