The Department of Justice is investigating after a group of activists and ex-CNN host Don Lemon disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday.
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 interviewed Levy-Armstrong ahead of “Operation Pullup,” as the protest was called, and followed agitators to Cities Church, conducting interviews, and, at times, arguing with members of the church and defending the “free speech” of the protesters, comparing the church invasion to the civil rights movement.
Agitators aren’t just targeting our officers. Now they’re targeting churches, too.
They’re going from hotel to hotel, church to church, hunting for federal law enforcement who are risking their lives to protect Americans.
Tim Walz and Jacob Frey are responsible for whipping… https://t.co/O3WQ6Iftfe
— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) January 18, 2026
Clips from Lemon’s coverage of the protest spread on social media and drew the attention of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
“The [Civil Rights Division] is investigating the potential violations of the federal FACE Act by these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshippers,” Dhillon said in a post on X.
The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, “prohibits the use or threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services or to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship,” according to the Justice Department.
Dhillon later suggested that Lemon is a target of the investigation as well, and could be prosecuted for his role in the protest.
“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! Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo journalism of disrupting a prayer service. You are on notice!” Dhillon said.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also responded to the incident on X:
President Trump will not tolerate the intimidation and harassment of Christians in their sacred places of worship.
The Department of Justice has launched a full investigation into the despicable incident that took place earlier today at a church in Minnesota.
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) January 19, 2026
The protest was organized and promoted by the Racial Justice Network and Black Lives Matter Minnesota. Cities Church was targeted by the activists because, Levy-Armstrong claimed, one of its pastors works for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“They cannot pretend to be a house of God while harboring someone who is directing ICE agents to wreak havoc upon our community,” Levy-Armstrong told Lemon. “I am a reverend on top of being a lawyer and an activist, so I come here in the power of the almighty God for righteousness, truth, and justice.”
On Lemon’s stream of the protest, Levy-Armstrong led dozens of protesters into the church during services, crowding the aisle and chanting slogans such as “justice for Renee Good,” “hands up, don’t shoot,” and “ICE out of Minnesota.” As protesters chanted, Lemon monologued about the importance of the First Amendment, speaking out against perceived injustice, and the meaning of protesting.
“This is the beginning of what’s going to happen here. When you violate people’s due process, when you pull people off the street, you start dragging them and hurting them and not abiding by the Constitution – when you start doing all of that, people get upset and angry,” Lemon said as protesters shouted at the assembled church-goers waiting for the chaos to end.
Lemon compared the protest to the civil rights movement and asserted that the protesters’ actions were protected under the Constitution.
“There is nothing in the Constitution that tells you what time you can protest. You can protest at any time. That’s the whole point of it, to disrupt, to make uncomfortable. And that’s what they’re doing,” Lemon said. “When you see how uncomfortable people, uncomfortably and harsh people are being treated on the streets, you have to be willing to go into places and disrupt and make people uncomfortable. That is what this country is about.”
Lemon at one point notes a “young man” in the corner of the church who Lemon says is “scared” and “crying.” The former CNN host turned YouTuber later states, “It’s uncomfortable and traumatic for the people here … but that’s what protesting is about.”
At one point during the protest, Lemon spoke to the church’s lead pastor, Jonathan Parnell. Parnell was not the pastor accused by protesters of working for ICE.
“It’s shameful to interrupt a public gathering of christians in worship,” Parnell told Lemon.
Lemon challenged the pastor, asserting that the Constitution and First Amendment protect the “freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest.”
“We are here to worship. We are here to worship Jesus because that is the hope of these cities, that’s the hope of the world is Jesus Christ, okay?” Parnell responded before leaving the interview soon after.
