(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The disturbing anti‑ICE protest inside a Sunday service in St. Paul, Minnesota, has been revealed to be far more sinister than initially understood, according to court documents first reported by The Daily Signal.
The protest, which went viral and drew widespread condemnation, occurred on Jan. 18 at Cities Church. Court filings alleged it was a major violation of congregants’ First Amendment rights to assemble and worship.
The demonstration began after anti‑ICE agitators claimed that David Easterwood, a pastor at Cities Church, is also the acting field office director for ICE in Minnesota.
According to DOJ filings, protesters terrorized children with loud chants and created an atmosphere in which some churchgoers feared a mass shooting was imminent.
The anti-ICE agitators even reportedly blocked parents from retrieving their children from Sunday School.
According to a witness, one unidentified agitator asked a child, “Do you know your parents are Nazis, they’re going to burn in hell?” One child told a worshipper, “Daddy, I thought you were going to die.”
Prosecutors allege that defendant William Scott Kelly, an anti‑ICE agitator, was caught on video yelling, “This ain’t God’s house. This is the house of the devil.”
One victim told prosecutors that about 50 members of the congregation were “struck toward the front of the church,” and that the agitators made it “nearly impossible” for churchgoers to leave.
The situation was so chaotic that a woman worshipper reportedly broke her arm while trying to flee. She told police that “they were terrorized” and that the “children were weeping.”
She added that “college students and young women were sobbing. It was impactful and it will take time to work through.”
One victim said an agitator continued to scream in the faces of young children while they were crying, according to the DOJ.
Shortly thereafter, the DOJ condemned the demonstrations and vowed to launch criminal investigations into the disruption of the service.
Federal charges were announced against three people involved in the protest, including Kelly, Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen, a St. Paul school board member.
Prosecutors allege the defendants conspired to interfere with the free exercise of religion and violated federal law by disrupting a house of worship.
