After a group of leftist activists and ex-CNN host Don Lemon disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday, on Monday Lemon hosted Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison on a podcast, where Ellison insisted that the activists had a right to disrupt the service.

The Daily Wire reported:

Dozens of protesters crowded into Cities Church in St. Paul on Sunday as part of a “clandestine operation” to “disrupt business as usual,” activist leader Nekima Levy-Armstrong told Lemon, who embedded with the protest group. The protest lasted roughly 30 minutes and effectively ended the church service as it drove congregants out.

Lemon asked Ellison about the church invasion, prompting this response:

The protest is fundamental to American society; this country started in a protest. It’s freedom of expression; people have a right to lift up their voices and make their peace. None of us are immune from the voice of the public. Quite honestly, I think that you got the First Amendment, freedom of religion and the freedom of First Amendment and freedom of expression. I think it’s just something you gotta live with in a society like this.

Ellison ignored the 1994 FACE Act, which made it to prevent people from exercising religious freedom at places of worship. It states: “Whoever by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction, intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with or attempts to injure intimidate, or interfere with any person lawfully exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship” could be prosecuted under the law.

“This administration is real tender about things when it comes to their own interest,” Ellison claimed. “But they don’t care about the same things when the things don’t lie in their favor. So they’re getting tender about a church service now.”

“They’re arresting people in clinics, schools, churches, anywhere they choose to do it,” he alleged. “They don’t really care about sacred and sensitive places unless it works in their favor.”

Ellison somehow segued to President Trump’s criticism of Jimmy Kimmel for his remarks about the death of Charlie Kirk, then threw in this completely unrelated remark about Trump: “The mad king won’t let you say jokes about him.”

Tim Pearce contributed to this article.

Despite mainstream narratives, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is largely targeting illegals who have pending criminal charges or convictions in the United States — in addition to the crime of being in the U.S. illegally.

Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said last month that the Department of Homeland Security law enforcement had arrested more than 600,000 illegals, 70% of whom had been charged or convicted of a crime in the United States.

Additionally, as stressed by McLaughlin, that statistic pertains to charges or convictions only in the U.S., not other nations. Meaning, the percentage of criminals being targeted is likely even higher.

“DHS is targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens — including murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists,” McLaughlin said in a statement published in November. “[Seventy percent] of illegal aliens ICE arrested across the country have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges just in the U.S.”

“This statistic doesn’t account for those wanted for violent crimes in their home country or another country, INTERPOL notices, human rights abusers, gang members, terrorists, etc.,” the assistant secretary explained. “The list goes on.”

McLaughlin said that the U.S. is a “nation of laws,” and DHS is “committed to enforcing those laws, all of which are just.”

This past week, a law enforcement agent went viral for addressing protesters and members of the media while agents were on duty. In this particular case, the agent said authorities were picking up a child sex offender, underscoring the absurdity of the protesters.

“We’re here to arrest a child sex offender, and you guys are out here honking,” the agent says in the now-viral video. “That vehicle has been honking and impeding our investigation while we’re trying to arrest a child sex offender. That’s who you guys are protecting. Insane.”

God bless the men & women of @ICEgov @CBP who risk their lives to arrest these criminals. pic.twitter.com/eDJQLCrjZh

— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) January 18, 2026

Moreover, DHS reports a massive 1,300% jump in assaults against ICE agents.

Still, coordinated obstruction, protests, and riots against ICE agents have raged in liberal cities across the nation, most notably in Minneapolis. Liberal politicians and their counterparts in the legacy media have only emboldened such behavior, too, by dehumanizing ICE agents and ignoring or even supporting violence and obstruction efforts from anti-ICE activists.

Related: How Ugly Images On TV Shape Immigration Politics