Church Protest Ignites DOJ Investigation

Minnesota just can’t get out of the news cycle.

Yesterday a group of protesters led by former cable news commentator turned internet personality Don Lemon stormed a church in Minneapolis during a worship service. This wasn’t a quiet demonstration outside, and it wasn’t a peaceful expression of dissent. It was a coordinated takeover of a house of worship – one that included shouting, filming congregants, confronting families, and ultimately forcing the service to end.

As reported by Fox News:

President Donald Trump’s administration launched an investigation after anti-ICE agitators stormed a church in Minneapolis during a service on Sunday.

Dozens of agitators burst into the Cities Church sanctuary roughly halfway through the service, attendees of the church told Fox News Digital. The mob stormed the building believing that one of the pastors is the acting director of ICE’s St. Paul field office.

Top-level members of Trump’s administration vowed an investigation after the unrest on Sunday.

“I just spoke to the Pastor in Minnesota whose church was targeted. Attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.

“If state leaders refuse to act responsibly to prevent lawlessness, this Department of Justice will remain mobilized to prosecute federal crimes and ensure that the rule of law prevails,” she added.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also posted a statement on X:

President Trump will not tolerate the intimidation and harassment of Christians in their sacred places of worship.

The Department of Justice has launched a full investigation into the despicable incident that took place earlier today at a church in Minnesota.

Churches, synagogues, mosques – places of worship – have long been treated in this country as sacred spaces, even by those who don’t share the faith practiced inside. That shared respect has historically been a cultural red line. What happened in Minnesota shows that the line is now being tested.

And as a result, the Department of Justice has since confirmed it is opening an investigation, and rightly so. Federal law is clear: Disrupting a religious service is not protected protest. The same statutes often invoked in other protest contexts – including the FACE Act – also protect houses of worship from intimidation, obstruction, and disruption. You don’t have to agree with how those laws are enforced elsewhere to acknowledge they exist and apply here. Many online are calling for Lemon’s arrest.

What makes this incident especially jarring is the timing. This happened the day before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Dr. King’s words spoke about justice, dignity, and nonviolence. Yet what we witnessed bore little resemblance to the principles he lived and died for.

Dr. King believed in civil disobedience, but always with the goal of changing hearts, not terrorizing families. His movement sought to awaken conscience, not traumatize children. He understood that moral authority is lost the moment protest becomes intimidation.

And that’s what made the commentary surrounding this incident so disturbing. Don Lemon chose a different tactic, filming innocent congregants – including children – as they were trying to leave the church. Causing fear in children during a church service is not moral persuasion. It is not peaceful protest. It’s something else entirely, and if it’s not terrorism, it’s certainly terror adjacent.

This isn’t about being “pro-ICE” or “anti-ICE.” Reasonable people can disagree strongly about immigration policy, enforcement priorities, and federal authority. Protest has a long and honorable place in American history. But protest loses legitimacy – not to mention any actual effectiveness – when it targets people who are not policymakers and instead invades private religious gatherings and treats worshippers as collateral damage.

Minnesota is already under an intense national spotlight. This latest incident only compounds that pressure and raises an unsettling question: Where does this go next? We’ve already seen self-proclaimed anti-ICE activists taking up arms in Minnesota. That should concern everyone. There’s already been enough bloodshed. I worry the next breaking story might be the one we, as a nation, can’t come back from.

There is a broader cultural issue here as well. Over the past few years, Americans have grown accustomed to heightened security at synagogues due to rising antisemitism. Attacks on churches, though less reported, have increased as well. What was once unthinkable – houses of worship becoming protest targets – is becoming normalized.

This moment demands leadership, not rhetoric. We’ve heard enough speeches from politicians about lowering the temperature, but we haven’t seen any serious efforts to calm the situation, enforce the law fairly, and protect fundamental freedoms: freedom of speech and freedom of religion. As we told you, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz encouraged the citizens of Minnesota to continue resisting ICE. 

Loss of life is tragic. Injustice should be confronted. Protest can be necessary. But when the pursuit of justice abandons compassion, we all lose something vital. Today, of all days, is a reminder that how we fight matters just as much as what we fight for.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included more discussion of the sickening display by Don Lemon and other protestors who clearly crossed a serious line by invading a church and terrorizing the families there. We were also joined by ACLJ Senior Counsel and head of ACLJ Jerusalem, Jeff Ballabon, to discuss a shocking revelation from Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who admitted that while being vetted as a possible running mate for former VP Kamala Harris, he was asked if he’d ever been an Israeli “double agent.”

Watch the full broadcast below: