MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice announced Sunday it is investigating a group of protesters in Minnesota who disrupted a Sunday service at Cities Church in St. Paul, where a local official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reportedly serves as a pastor.
A Facebook livestream from Black Lives Matter Minnesota, one of the organizing groups, showed hundreds chanting ICE out and Justice for Renee Good during the service. Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot and killed by an ICE agent earlier this month.
The protest has raised alarm as attendees protested against the violent tactics and illegal arrests allegedly associated with local ICE offices, which the pastor, David Easterwood, is believed to oversee. The DOJ has stated it will not tolerate civil rights violations during worship.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon condemned the disruption, asserting the need to protect religious spaces from political protests, declaring them not public forums. Meanwhile, local activists like Nekima Levy Armstrong criticized the investigation, labeling it a distraction from the systemic issues surrounding ICE's conduct.
In light of the controversy, Easterwood has defended ICE’s operations amid claims of increased aggression from protests, asserting the use of crowd control devices to protect officers. Critics maintain that such responses highlight a disregard for civil rights, with Black Lives Matter leaders calling the actions 'a misstep for justice'.
The events have resulted in a stark division within the community, with some supporting the right to protest against ICE, while others see potential legal repercussions as attempts to silence dissent in the face of federal actions deemed unjust.
