An activist protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement who was part of a group that interrupted a Minnesota church service Sunday told Attorney General Pam Bondi to "come and get me" as the Department of Justice ramps up an investigation into what happened.
The DOJ said it is investigating a group of protesters that disrupted services at the Cities Church in St. Paul because one of its pastors, David Easterwood, leads the local ICE field office overseeing operations involving the arrest of illegal aliens.
William Kelly, a Washington, D.C.-based street protester who opposes President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration, went on an expletive-filled video rant shared Monday on X. He said he interrupted the church service because Easterwood's work with ICE conflicted with his role as a pastor.
Kelly accused ICE of targeting legal immigrants and argued Somali Americans are unfairly treated despite their citizenship. He said he was unafraid of potential legal consequences, condemned what he described as extremist views, and called for public resistance.
"Come and get me, Pam Bondi," Kelly said, using profanity to insult the attorney general and accusing her of betraying the country.
The church protest was organized by Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer who leads the Racial Justice Network of Minneapolis and is a former head of the NAACP of Minneapolis.
In another video shared Monday on X, Kelly said he "feels good about his actions in that white supremacist church" after visiting a "beautiful" mosque where he asserted that "the local community are scared to come out" because of ICE.
"It was an honor to be invited to this mosque, but it was surreal to be there," Kelly said. "It made me feel good about my actions at that white supremacist church earlier.
"How can these people be afraid to go out of their home, afraid to go practice their prayer while these rich white people can live like nothing is happening and ignore it completely. It's unjust. It's un-American.
"What is freedom if it only applies to white people?"
Newsmax has reached out to the Department of Justice to comment on Kelly's statements.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the department's Civil Rights Division, told Newsmax on Monday that "the people who did this made a big, big mistake — whoever they are."
"We are investigating exactly who they are, who coordinated with them, who paid for it, and who was there," Dhillon said. "And this will be met with the full force of the United States Department of Justice, as the attorney general has directed."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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