By Rich Matthews and Andrew Hay
MINNEAPOLIS, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Federal agents arrested two Minnesota civil rights activists who led a protest inside a church whose pastor they say has a leadership role with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency carrying out aggressive raids in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Thursday FBI and Homeland Security agents took part in the arrests of attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen, a St.
Paul school board member. FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that Levy Armstrong faced charges under a federal law that bars physical obstruction of houses of worship.
Lawyers for Levy Armstrong and Allen were not immediately available for comment.
Bondi said there would be more arrests over the Sunday protest at Cities Church, St. Paul, where dozens of demonstrators interrupted a service alleging that pastor David Easterwood was an ICE director, saying that role conflicted with Christian values. In a speech in Ohio, Vice President JD Vance said Bondi had told him the "ringleader" of the church protest had been arrested.
ADMINISTRATION USES 1994 LAW
The arrests follow a weekend statement from Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, that the department was investigating potential violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 law that bars obstruction of both reproductive health centers and houses of worship. The law has historically been used against demonstrators blocking access to abortion clinics, but President Donald Trump's administration has curtailed abortion-related cases while emphasizing cases related to religious worship. The administration has also launched broad efforts targeting liberal non-profits and groups seen as opposed to its agenda, raising alarm among civil rights groups and Democratic leaders.
Levy Armstrong, a former law professor and chapter president of civil rights group NAACP, has said the government's legal retaliation for the protest represented an abuse of power after the U.S. Department of Justice said it would not investigate ICE agent Jonathan Ross for the fatal shooting of Minneapolis resident Renee Good.
"That's how you continue to move us towards authoritarianism, when you weaponize the investigative powers that you have and the departments that you have," Levy Armstrong told Reuters on Tuesday.
David Easterwood is listed as a pastor at Cities Church on its website and a person of that name appears in public records as the St. Paul ICE acting field office director. Easterwood did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement, Pastor Jonathan Parnell said Cities Church was considering legal action against "agitators" who disrupted the service.
Bondi said the protest inside the Baptist church was part of "attacks on places of worship" that would not be tolerated under Trump.
In a video posted by Levy Armstrong on Sunday, she stood inside the church and said Easterwood's role as a pastor was incompatible with his alleged role overseeing ICE agents who had killed Good and shot a Venezuelan immigrant.
"How dare you claim to be a pastor of God, and you are involved in evil in our community?" Levy Armstrong said.
Her social media posts said the "mission" was organized by Black Lives Matter groups in Minnesota and the Racial Justice Network.
(Reporting by Rich Matthews in Minneapolis and Andrew Hay in New Mexico; Editing by Donna Bryson, Rod Nickel)
