Federal agents arrest 25 more suspects in Minneapolis church invasion tied to anti-ICE protest

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that 25 more suspects have been arrested in connection with the storming of Cities Church in Minneapolis, where anti-ICE agitators invaded a worship service on January 18th and forced the congregation to flee. A federal indictment charging 30 additional people was unsealed on Friday, bringing the total number of individuals indicted to 39.

Bondi posted the announcement on X:

"Today, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment charging 30 more people who took part in the attack on Cities Church in Minnesota."

"At my direction, federal agents have already arrested 25 of them, with more to come throughout the day."

The message from this Justice Department is simple and unambiguous: storm a house of worship, and federal law enforcement will find you.

What happened at Cities Church

On January 18th, several anti-ICE agitators stormed Cities Church in Minnesota during a worship service, reportedly to protest federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis. The mob descended on the congregation in what the indictment describes as "a coordinated takeover-style attack."

That language matters. This was not a spontaneous outburst. According to the indictment, the defendants "conspired and agreed with one another to oppress, threaten, and intimidate multiple persons, including the clergy, staff, and congregants of the Cities Church." Several of the accused allegedly organized the disruption under the name "Operation Pullup," promoted it on Instagram and Facebook, and met at a shopping center before converging on the church, as Fox News reports.

The human toll was immediate. The pastor and congregation were forced to terminate the worship service. Congregants fled the building out of fear for their safety. Others scrambled to implement an emergency plan. And as the indictment notes, young children were left to wonder, as one child put it, if their parents were going to die.

Read that again. Children in a church, during worship, wondering if their parents were going to die. Because activists decided their political grievance outweighed a congregation's right to pray.

The law they broke

The Trump administration launched a probe into the incident quickly, identifying the storming as a violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. The FACE Act, most commonly associated with protecting access to abortion clinics, also protects houses of worship from exactly this kind of coordinated intimidation. The defendants were charged with conspiracy to deprive religious freedom rights and FACE Act violations.

FBI Director Kash Patel connected the enforcement action directly to that statute:

"Today's FACE Act arrests with our federal partners show this FBI will never tolerate those who target, attack, or intimidate Americans peacefully exercising their right to worship freely."

For years, conservatives watched the previous administration wield the FACE Act as a weapon against pro-life demonstrators while church disruptions drew little federal interest. Now the law is being applied as written, protecting people of faith from mob intimidation. The statute hasn't changed. The willingness to enforce it has.

Don Lemon and 38 others

The highest-profile arrest in the case remains former CNN anchor Don Lemon, who allegedly followed the agitators into the church and spoke with lead pastor Jonathan Parnell. Lemon was charged with conspiracy to deprive religious freedom rights and a FACE Act violation. He was arraigned on February 13th and pleaded not guilty.

Pastor Parnell's reaction when Lemon asked about the crowd storming his church was plain:

"This is unacceptable, it's shameful. It's shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship."

He added simply: "I have to take care of my flock."

The indictment names 39 defendants in total. The list includes Nekima Valdez Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, Satara Diann Strong Allen, and Monique Cassandra Cullars-Doty, among others identified as organizers. Collectively, the defendants are accused of engaging in "acts of oppression, intimidation, threats, interference, and physical obstruction" by "use of force, threat of force, and physical obstruction" against multiple people inside the church.

The pattern no one should ignore

The invasion of Cities Church fits a pattern that has become disturbingly familiar. When the left's political frustrations reach a boiling point, institutions that should be untouchable become targets. Churches. Courthouses. Private homes of Supreme Court justices. The justification shifts with the news cycle; the impulse stays the same.

The agitators who stormed Cities Church apparently believed that opposition to immigration enforcement gave them license to terrorize a congregation mid-worship. They organized it. Named it. Promoted it on social media. Then walked into a church and made children fear for their parents' lives.

And somewhere in the background of every story like this sits a question the institutional left never answers: where were the voices calling for restraint before the mob moved? Not after the arrests, when statements of concern cost nothing. Before. When it mattered.

Accountability arrives

Bondi's statement left no room for misinterpretation:

"YOU CANNOT ATTACK A HOUSE OF WORSHIP. If you do so, you cannot hide from us — we will find you, arrest you, and prosecute you. This Department of Justice STANDS for Christians and all Americans of faith."

Patel credited the FBI Minneapolis team and HSI partners for their work, noting that 39 individuals have now been indicted with multiple arrests already occurring last month. The message from federal law enforcement is consistent and credible: the investigations are ongoing, and more arrests may follow.

Religious liberty is not an abstract principle debated in law reviews. It is a family sitting in a pew on a Saturday morning. It is a pastor choosing hymns. It is a child trusting that the walls of a church mean safety. On January 18th in Minneapolis, a mob shattered that trust. Now the Justice Department is making clear that shattering it carries a cost.