Rep. Randy Fine on Tuesday condemned what he described as a disruption of a Sunday church service in Minnesota, calling in an interview with Newsmax for arrests and lengthy jail time for those involved and accusing the political left of encouraging intimidation in houses of worship.
"The left is out of control," the Florida Republican told Newsmax's "Wake Up America Early."
He said that if a similar incident happened in Florida, "someone probably would have been shot," citing the state's self-defense laws.
"You're allowed to stand your ground and protect yourself in Florida."
On Sunday, anti-immigration enforcement protesters disrupted a service at the Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. David Easterwood, one of the church's pastors, leads a local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.
Fine on Tuesday said the protesters should be fully prosecuted.
"I hope every one of them is arrested," said Fine. "Every one of them needs to be sent to jail, because this cannot become common practice in our country."
ICE, he added, "is targeting foreign invaders who came to our country illegally, refused to leave, so we have to send them home."
He said disrupting worship services was "unbelievable" and framed the issue as a threat to religious liberty that must lead to federal charges.
"If the left believes it can go into churches and synagogues and disrupt people and families, it will make people afraid to practice their religion," he said. "This has to be stopped, and it won't be unless these people are held accountable."
Fine said he believed those involved were "unapologetic" and argued they felt justified in their actions.
"They don't think they did anything wrong," he said. "They're so delusional in their beliefs, they believe doing anything to advance them is acceptable… these people have to go to jail for a very long time. We've got to lock these people up, put them in jail, and throw away the key."
Meanwhile, when asked about President Donald Trump's second term at the one-year mark, Fine praised the administration's pace and said the country would be worse off if former Vice President Kamala Harris had won the 2024 election instead.
"No president has worked harder in a year," he said, citing what he described as accomplishments "from ending eight wars to the one big, beautiful bill that's going to create record-size tax refunds for people this year," along with "an economy that's growing at more than 5%" and "gas prices coming way down."
Fine said the election presented "two forks in the road" and that voters "took the fork with President Trump."
"The country is so much better because of it," he said. "I'm just so grateful to be on his team."
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