Judge Orders Release of Anti-ICE Minnesota Church Protesters

A federal judge in Minnesota on Friday denied prosecutors' emergency bid to jail two defendants accused of conspiring to violate civil rights during an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement disruption at a St. Paul church, leaving in place a magistrate judge's order releasing them under strict conditions.

U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz ruled the government failed to show the charge qualifies as a "crime of violence" warranting detention or that the defendants, Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen, posed a serious flight risk, though he added requirements that they surrender any passports and not seek new travel documents.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Thursday that FBI and Homeland Security agents took part in the arrests of Armstrong and Allen, the civil rights activists who helped organize the protest.

William Kelly, an anti-ICE activist and Army veteran, was also arrested, Bondi said.

FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that Armstrong faced charges under a federal law that bars physical obstruction of houses of worship.

Meanwhile, a U.S. magistrate judge in Minnesota rejected a proposed criminal complaint from the Department of Justice against former CNN anchor Don Lemon, who livestreamed the protest from within the church, according to a source familiar with the matter.

"The attorney general is enraged at the magistrate judge's decision," the source said of Bondi.

Lawyers for Armstrong, Allen, and Kelly were not immediately available for comment.

Lemon said he was not part of the protest group and was working as a journalist.

Bondi said there would be more arrests over the Sunday protest, where dozens of demonstrators interrupted a service alleging that the 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 told him the "ringleader" of the church protest had been arrested.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday posted images of the three arrests and said Armstrong, Allen, and Kelly would be charged under a federal law that prohibits people from conspiring to interfere with the constitutionally protected rights of others, such as the free practice of religion.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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