US Department of Justice Investigates Disruption of Church Service by Protesters
The US Department of Justice has launched an investigation into a group of protesters who disrupted a church service in Minnesota, where a local official with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) serves as a pastor. The incident occurred at the Cities Church in St. Paul, where protesters chanted “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” a 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis earlier this month.
A livestreamed video of the protest, posted on the Facebook page of Black Lives Matter Minnesota, shows the group of protesters interrupting the church service, alleging that one of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, leads the local ICE field office responsible for the operations that have involved violent tactics and illegal arrests. Easterwood’s personal information appears to match that of a man by that name identified in court filings as the acting director of the ICE St. Paul field office.
Investigation and Reactions
US Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet Dhillon announced the investigation, stating that the Justice Department is looking into federal civil rights violations “by these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshipers.” Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi also weighed in, saying that any violations of federal law would be prosecuted. However, Nekima Levy Armstrong, who participated in the protest and leads the local grassroots civil rights organization Racial Justice Network, dismissed the potential federal investigation as a sham and a distraction from federal agents’ actions in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Armstrong, an ordained reverend, emphasized the harm caused by ICE agents in the community, saying, “When you think about the federal government unleashing barbaric ICE agents upon our community and all the harm that they have caused, to have someone serving as a pastor who oversees these ICE agents, is almost unfathomable to me.” She added, “If people are more concerned about someone coming to a church on a Sunday and disrupting business as usual than they are about the atrocities that we are experiencing in our community, then they need to check their theology and they need to check their hearts.”
Context and Background
The incident is not an isolated one, as churches have also been the target of federal immigration raids in the last year. Soon after the start of President Trump’s second term, Homeland Security issued a directive rescinding a Biden-era policy that had protected areas, including churches and schools, from immigration raids. Black Lives Matter Minnesota co-founder Monique Cullars-Doty said that the federal prosecution was misguided, stating, “If you got a head — a leader in a church — that is leading and orchestrating ICE raids, my God, what has the world come to?”
ICE defended its tactics in a statement, saying, “Agitators aren’t just targeting our officers. Now they’re targeting churches, too. They’re going from hotel to hotel, church to church, hunting for federal law enforcement who are risking their lives to protect Americans.” However, the protesters argue that their actions are necessary to bring attention to the harm caused by ICE agents in the community. For more information, read the full story Here
Image Source: www.latimes.com
