The Department of Justice is investigating an incident in Minnesota on Sunday in which anti-ICE agitators stormed a church service reportedly because they believed the pastor has ties to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the department is "investigating the potential violations of the federal FACE Act by these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshipers."
The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994 (FACE Act) in part prohibits the use or "threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking ... or to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship."
Dhillon later said the agitators could face felony charges under the Ku Klux Klan Act.
"The Klan Act is a law that makes it illegal to terrorize citizens, to violate their civil rights, to get together and conspire to violate the civil rights," Dhillon said. "Whenever anyone conspires to violate the protected civil rights of American citizens, the Klan Act can be used to bring a conspiracy charge."
Former CNN host Don Lemon live-streamed as anti-ICE agitators stormed Cities Church in St. Paul on Sunday.
“This is the beginning of what’s going to happen here,” Lemon said as the agitators shouted down the pastor and harassed parishioners.
“They’ve stopped the service — a lot of people, a number of people have left,” Lemon proclaimed. “This is what the First Amendment is about, the freedom to protest. I’m sure people here don’t like it, but protests are not comfortable.”
Lemon, of course, is wrong.
First Amendment protections for free speech and assembly do not extend to disrupting religious services on private property.
Cities Church in St. Paul (located in the historic St. Paul's On the Hill building) is legally considered private property, even when open for public services.
Jonathan Parnell, the lead pastor, described the protest as “unacceptable,” adding that it is “shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship.”
Lemon claimed he had no idea the agitators were going to storm a church.
But video footage of Lemon admitting that he had foreknowledge that the agitators were going to enter a church and disrupt the sermon has surfaced.
Lemon admitted he was embedded with a Black Lives Matter activist and the group of anti-ICE agitators.
INTENT: The opening to Don Lemon’s insane livestream is an admission of foreknowledge that the group he was in contact with was going to storm a church, based on his prior communications with its leader. pic.twitter.com/g0GVHB4871
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) January 19, 2026
This heinous act that occurred in Minnesota yesterday is receiving the highest level of attention from @TheJusticeDept. @AGPamBondi & I are working around the clock, because no right in our Constitution is more sacred than the freedom to assemble & pray to God. pic.twitter.com/kwwfI48dTZ
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) January 19, 2026
🚨 BREAKING: Trump DOJ to bring charges under the KU KLUX KLAN Act or the FACE ACT after Don Lemon and leftists stormed a Minneapolis church, harassing worshippers
FAFO, LEMON! ASSISTANT AG DHILLON: "The Klan Act is a law that makes it illegal to terrorize citizens, to violate… pic.twitter.com/USrYpO2aYm — Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 19, 2026
