Appeals Court Denies DOJ’s Bid to Arrest 5 More Minnesota Church Protesters

A federal appeals court on Jan. 23 denied the Justice Department’s request to arrest more individuals involved in an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest that occurred inside a church in Minnesota earlier this month.

Protesters disrupted a Sunday service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 18, chanting phrases such as “Justice for Renee Good,” following claims that one of the church pastors serves as the acting field office director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota. Several people were arrested on Jan. 22 for allegedly organizing the protest.

The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Jan. 23 rejected an emergency petition from the Department of Justice (DOJ) for a writ of mandamus after Judge Patrick Schiltz of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota refused to issue five more arrest warrants related to the protest.

In a Jan. 23 letter to the appeals court, Schiltz said the DOJ had requested arrest warrants for eight people on Jan. 20, but Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko issued warrants for only three, finding no probable cause to arrest the remaining five.

The five individuals allegedly entered the church and yelled “horrible things at the members of the church” but committed no violence, according to the judge’s letter.

“It is important to emphasize that what the U.S. Attorney requested is unheard of in our district or, as best as I can tell, any other district in the Eighth Circuit,” Schiltz said, referring to the DOJ’s request to review Micko’s denial of arrest warrants.

“The reason why this never happens is likely that, if the government does not like the magistrate judge’s decision, it can either improve the affidavit and present it again to the same magistrate judge or it can present its case to a grand jury and seek an indictment,” the judge said.

The DOJ said that arresting the five individuals was necessary to deter potential “copycats” from disrupting churches, synagogues, and religious services. Schiltz disagreed.

“The leaders of the group have been arrested, and their arrests have received widespread publicity,” Schiltz said, suggesting that the DOJ could instead take its case to a grand jury. “There is absolutely no emergency.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to the DOJ for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Among the five individuals for whom the DOJ sought arrest warrants is former CNN journalist turned YouTuber Don Lemon, who livestreamed the protest on social media.

Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement on Jan. 23 that the magistrate’s actions “confirm the nature of Don’s First Amendment protected work this weekend in Minnesota as a reporter.”

“Should the Department of Justice continue with a stunning and troubling effort to silence and punish a journalist for doing his job, Don will call out their latest attack on the rule of law and fight any charges vigorously and thoroughly in court,” Lowell said.

Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, posted on X on Jan. 18 that a house of worship is not a public forum for protest.

“It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws,” Dhillon said.