ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA — U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrests of two additional people on Monday in a federal case stemming from a protest that disrupted a worship service at Cities Church in St. Paul.
Bondi identified the newly arrested defendants as Ian Davis Austin and Jerome Deangelo Richardson and said the arrests bring the total charged in the case to nine.
“If you riot in a place of worship, we WILL find you,”
Bondi wrote in a social media post on February 2, 2026.
Federal prosecutors charged the nine defendants under 18 U.S.C. § 241, a civil rights conspiracy statute, and the FACE Act, which the government described as prohibiting interference with people exercising their right to religious freedom at a place of worship.
In general, prosecutors bringing a case under 18 U.S.C. § 241 must prove an agreement to interfere with rights protected by federal law and that the defendants joined that agreement. In general, FACE Act cases focus on alleged conduct that interferes with access and exercise of protected activity, which the government in this case ties to worship in a church.
Bondi’s latest announcement followed earlier public statements about the investigation and arrests, with the Justice Department portraying the episode as a coordinated effort to disrupt a religious service.
“Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP,”
Bondi wrote on January 22, 2026.
By January 30, 2026, Bondi said federal agents arrested four people, including Don Lemon, in the same investigation.
“At my direction, early this morning federal agents arrested Don Lemon, Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy, in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota,”
Bondi wrote on January 30, 2026.
Officials across the Trump administration framed the case as an enforcement response aimed at protecting worshippers and deterring disruptions at churches, while casting the protest as unlawful conduct rather than protected expression.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, in a formal DHS news release dated January 23, 2026, connected the enforcement posture to constitutional language about religious liberty and limits on protest activity inside places of worship.
“Religious freedom is the bedrock of the United States—there is no first amendment right to obstruct someone from practicing their religion,”
Noem said.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon issued a similar warning on February 2, 2026, using language that officials said reflects federal protections for worship spaces.
“A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws!”
Dhillon said.
Authorities have not described in these public statements how each defendant allegedly participated, but the charging posture identifies nine people by name and assigns them roles as journalists or activists.
The defendants named in the federal grand jury indictment include independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, as well as activists Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, Trahern Jeen Crews, William Kelly, Jamael Lydell Lundy, Ian Davis Austin, and Jerome Deangelo Richardson.
The protest that triggered the federal case occurred on January 18, 2026, at Cities Church, which the government described as a Southern Baptist church in St. Paul.
Charging documents allege the disruption forced congregants to end the service and flee the building in fear, the government said.
Protesters entered the church during service chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” officials said, describing the incident as a disruption that unfolded while worshippers were gathered.
The government said protesters targeted the church because one of its pastors, David Easterwood, also serves as the acting director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in St. Paul.
Lemon, identified by officials as among those arrested on January 30, 2026, has maintained he attended only as an independent journalist chronicling the event and had no affiliation with the protesters.
The public filings and announcements describe the defendants as “charged,” not convicted. Federal criminal cases typically move next through initial appearances, detention or bond decisions, and arraignments where defendants enter pleas, followed by evidence exchanges and motion practice.
Bondi’s February 2, 2026 announcement did not include new details about court dates in the case, and the Justice Department has not publicly laid out a full calendar of hearings in the statements cited.
The arrests also sit inside a broader enforcement push that the Department of Homeland Security has branded “Operation Metro Surge,” which DHS characterized as the largest immigration enforcement operation ever conducted.
DHS described “Operation Metro Surge” as involving the deployment of 2,000 agents to the Twin Cities, a scale that officials have used to argue the administration is responding to public safety concerns and coordinated tactics by opponents.
Within that narrative, federal officials repeatedly used the terms “coordinated attack” and “riot” in connection with the Cities Church disruption, presenting the case as an example of what the administration says it will pursue aggressively.
The dispute over how to characterize the incident has drawn in questions about protest rights and press activity, especially because two of the defendants identified in the indictment are described as independent journalists.
Civil rights advocates accused the administration of using a “sledgehammer” against First Amendment rights, a criticism that has accompanied the arrests and widened the political fallout in Minnesota.
Officials, meanwhile, pointed to the disruption inside the church as a line they say protesters cannot cross, emphasizing the difference between public demonstration and entry into a worship service.
The protest and subsequent arrests also followed fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by federal agents earlier in January 2026, officials said. The shootings became part of the backdrop for heightened tensions, as protesters’ chants included “Justice for Renee Good.”
Authorities have not provided further details in these public statements about the shootings, the agents involved, or related investigations, but the deaths featured in the public context around the church disruption.
Bondi’s language on January 30, 2026 and February 2, 2026 framed the arrests as part of an escalating law enforcement response, rather than a closed chapter.
Her February 2, 2026 post naming Austin and Richardson came after her January 30, 2026 statement naming Lemon, Crews, Fort, and Lundy, and after her January 22, 2026 post warning that “WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP.”
Noem’s January 23, 2026 statement, issued in a DHS release, cast the church disruption as incompatible with religious practice, stressing what she described as the government’s role in protecting worshippers from obstruction.
Dhillon’s February 2, 2026 statement echoed that theme and used broad language about federal “criminal and civil laws,” underscoring the administration’s messaging that worship settings receive special protection.
The government has charged the defendants with felonies, a posture that can raise the legal stakes for those accused even before trial, as lawyers argue over detention, bond, and the scope of permissible evidence.
The allegations in the charging documents about congregants ending the service and fleeing in fear also set up a central dispute likely to shape the litigation: how prosecutors characterize the effect on worshippers and what actions they attribute to each defendant.
Defense responses can diverge sharply from charging allegations, particularly in cases that straddle protest activity, press presence, and religious services. Lemon’s public assertion that he attended as an independent journalist offers one example of how defendants may describe their conduct differently from prosecutors.
Federal cases like this one often turn on evidence gathered from witness statements, videos, communications, and law enforcement reports, with judges weighing what jurors can hear and how statutes apply to the specific conduct alleged.
For now, Monday’s development centers on the arrests Bondi announced and the government’s claim that the investigation has reached nine charged defendants tied to the Cities Church disruption in St. Paul.
Officials indicated that future updates will come through channels that include DHS releases, Justice Department updates, and court filings, which provide the most detailed record of the allegations and procedural steps as the case advances.
Readers tracking the case can watch for announcements through the DHS Newsroom, postings and case updates from the Department of Justice, and relevant Minnesota legal context and public materials from the State of Minnesota Attorney General.
While public statements from officials and defendants can shape perceptions, the court docket and filed charging documents typically supply the verified framework of claims and responses as lawyers test the evidence.
“A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws!”
U.S. Attorney General Announces Two More Arrests in Cities Church St. Paul Protest Case
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced two additional arrests related to a January 2026 disruption at Cities Church in St. Paul, bringing the total charged to nine. Defendants, including journalists and activists, face federal charges for allegedly interfering with religious freedom. The case highlights tensions between religious liberty and protest rights, occurring amidst a massive immigration enforcement surge and following fatal federal shootings of two citizens.
