Don Lemon, Georgia Fort Arrested for Church Protest Coverage
BY MN CRIME STAFF
Journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were arrested Thursday and Friday in connection with an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a worship service at a church in Saint Paul.
Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents in Los Angeles where he had been covering the Grammy Awards, while Fort was arrested at her home in the Twin Cities.
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The disturbance at Cities Church unfolded on Jan. 18 when about 30 to 40 demonstrators entered the church during a Sunday service and challenged congregants and leaders, chanting against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and calling out a pastor at the church who is also an ICE official. Federal prosecutors said the protestors targeted the church because of that affiliation and disrupted a worship service.
A federal court affidavit said worshippers were surprised and at times cut off from family members in the building’s childcare area while demonstrators blocked passageways and made statements that heightened fear among those attending the service.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem described the incident as involving an “anti-ICE mob” who targeted the church, accusing the group of crossing the line from protected speech into unlawful conduct. In a statement posted to social media, Noem said the First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly but not rioting.
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed the arrests Friday, saying Lemon, Fort, Trahern Jeen Crews and Jamael Lydell Lundy were taken into custody “in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.” Bondi’s office said the action stemmed from the church incident but did not immediately release specific charges.
Fort livestreamed her arrest Friday on social media shortly before federal agents took her into custody at her Minnesota home. She told viewers she believed she was being targeted for reporting on the protest. Lemon has repeatedly maintained he was on church property strictly to document the events as a member of the press.
Last week, before these new arrests, prosecutors had charged three other people linked to planning the protest. Attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, Saint Paul School Board member Chauntyll Allen and U.S. Army veteran William Kelly were arrested and face federal counts including conspiracy to interfere with religious freedom by disrupting the service. Their detention became a focal point of debate after a judge ordered their release, saying the government had not justified continued detention.
PREVIOUSLY: Arrests Made After Anti-ICE Protest Disrupts Saint Paul Church
Federal authorities previously sought warrants for eight people tied to the church protest. A federal magistrate judge denied applications to charge five of those people, including Lemon, for lack of probable cause. Prosecutors then pursued further legal avenues, and the Department of Justice ultimately secured indictments that led to this week’s arrests.
Lemon’s attorney Abbe Lowell issued a statement calling the arrest an attack on press freedom and accusing the Justice Department of misplacing its focus. The statement argued Lemon’s work documenting protests falls squarely under First Amendment protections and that attention should instead be on alleged misconduct by federal agents in other Minnesota cases.
UPDATE | By Friday afternoon, both Lemon and Fort had been released from custody. A judge ruled Lemon would be released on no bail and a separate judge found the charges against Fort were not violent and she could be released while the case proceeds in court.
