Minneapolis — The U.S. Department of Justice said Sunday it was investigating a group of protesters in Minnesota who disrupted services at a church where a local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official apparently served as pastor.
A video livestreamed on the Facebook page of Black Lives Matter Minnesota, one of the protest organizers, shows a group of people interrupting services at Cities Church in St. Paul by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good.” the She is 37 years old and a mother of three children He was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis earlier this month amid a surge in federal immigration enforcement activity.
Protesters allege that one of the church’s pastors – David Easterwood – also leads the local ICE field office that oversees operations that included Violent tactics and Unlawful arrests.
US Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said her agency is investigating federal civil rights violations “by these individuals who desecrate a house of worship and interfere with Christian worshipers.”
“A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such actions under federal criminal and civil laws!” she said on social media.
Attorney General Pam Bondi also spoke out on social media, saying any violations of federal law would be prosecuted.
Nikema Levy Armstrong, who participated in the protest and leads the local civil rights organization Racial Justice Network, dismissed the potential Justice Department investigation as a hoax and a distraction from the actions of federal agents in Minneapolis-St. pee.
“When you consider the federal government unleashing barbaric ICE agents on our community and all the damage they have caused, to have someone serving as a pastor supervising these ICE agents is almost unfathomable to me,” said Armstrong, who added that she is an ordained pastor. “If people are more concerned about someone coming to church on Sunday and disrupting business as usual than they are about the atrocities we are seeing in our society, then they need to examine their theology and need to examine their hearts.”
The St. Paul-based Church of the Cities website lists David Easterwood as its pastor, and his personal information appears to match that of David Easterwood identified in court filings as the acting director of the ICE St. Paul field office. Paul. Easterwood appeared alongside Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a Minneapolis press conference Last October.
Cities Church did not respond to a phone call or email request for comment Sunday evening, and Eastwood’s personal contact information could not immediately be determined.
Easterwood did not lead the portion of the service that was broadcast live, and it was not clear if he was present at the church on Sunday.
In a Jan. 5 lawsuit, Easterwood defended Minnesota Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s tactics, such as swapping license plates and cars. Spraying demonstrators with irritating chemicals. He wrote that federal agents were facing increasing threats and assaults and that crowd control devices such as grenades were important to protect against violent attacks. He testified that he was not aware of agents “deliberately targeting or retaliating against peaceful protesters or lawful observers with less-lethal munitions and/or crowd control devices.”
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement stated, “Instigators are not just targeting our officers. They are now targeting churches as well.” “They go from hotel to hotel, church to church, searching for federal law enforcement officers who risk their lives to protect Americans.”
Monique Collars-Doty, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement in Minnesota, said the Justice Department’s prosecution was misguided.
“If you have a president — a church leader — leading and organizing ICE raids, my God, what has the world come to?” Collars-Doughty said. “We cannot sit idly by and watch people go astray.”