The Trump administration charges Don Lemon with federal civil rights crimes related to his anti-ICE church protest

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Journalist Don Lemon has been charged with federal civil rights crimes in connection with an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Friday.

Lemon’s attorney, Abby Lowell, said he was arrested Thursday by federal agents in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy Awards. He is expected to appear in court there Friday afternoon.

Read more: The Justice Department says it will investigate charges filed after activists disrupted a church where a Minnesota ICE official serves as pastor

The veteran journalist is accused of conspiracy and interfering with congregants’ First Amendment rights during a Jan. 18 protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as pastor. Another journalist and two protest participants were also arrested in Minnesota.

Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023, said he had no affiliation with the organization that entered the church, and that he was there as a freelance journalist chronicling the protesters.

“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis is no different than what he has always done,” Lowell said in a statement earlier Friday. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role is to highlight the truth and hold those in power accountable.”

District Attorney Pam Bondi confirmed the arrest of Lemon and the others who were present during the protest.

Read more: The demonstrators are calling for a national strike against Trump’s immigration policies

“At my direction, federal agents early this morning arrested Don Lemon, Trahern Jane Cruz, Georgia Fort, and Jamal Liddell Lundy, in connection with the coordinated attack on the Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota,” Bundy said on social media.

“Keep trying”

Since leaving CNN, Lemon has joined a group of journalists who have turned to freelance work, posting regularly on YouTube. He has made no secret of his disdain for President Donald Trump. However, during his online program from the church, he repeatedly said: “I’m not here as an activist. I’m here as a journalist.” He described the scene in front of him and interviewed churchgoers and demonstrators.

A magistrate judge last week rejected the prosecution’s initial attempt to charge the veteran journalist. Soon after, he predicted on his show that the administration would try again.

Read more: The Justice Department has opened a federal civil rights investigation into Alex Peretti’s death, the deputy attorney general said

“And guess what,” he said. “Here I am. Keep trying. It’s not going to stop me from being a journalist. It’s not going to diminish my voice. Go ahead, make me the new Jimmy Kimmel, if you want. Just do it. Because I’m not going anywhere.”

Forte, a freelance journalist, broadcast the moments leading up to her arrest Friday live on Facebook.

“I don’t feel like I have a First Amendment right as a member of the press because now federal agents are at my door arresting me for filming a church protest a few weeks ago,” Forte said.

It was not immediately clear whether Fort and two other Minnesota residents who were arrested had attorneys.

Discourage scrutiny

The arrests sparked sharp criticism from media advocates and civil rights activists. The Rev. Al Sharpton said the Trump administration was using a “sledgehammer” to bring the First Amendment to its knees.

Kelly McBride, vice president of the Poynter Institute, said the arrests and recent search of a Washington Post journalist’s home were intended to intimidate journalists documenting opposition to the president’s policies.

Read more: The Department of Homeland Security is stepping up surveillance in immigration raids sweeping citizens

In an Instagram post, the National Association of Black Journalists said it was “angry and deeply disturbed” by Lemon’s arrest. The group described it as an attempt to “criminalize and threaten freedom of the press under the guise of law enforcement.”

Crews is a leader of the Black Lives Matter Minnesota movement who has led numerous protests and actions for racial justice, especially after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.

After Trump administration officials said earlier this month that arrests would come at the church protest, Cruz told The Associated Press that there was a “tradition” of Black activists and leaders being targeted or subjected to violence.

“Just as a Black person, you always have to keep that in mind,” Cruz said.

Protesters were previously accused

A prominent civil rights lawyer and two other people who participated in the protest were arrested last week. Prosecutors accused them of violating civil rights for disrupting the cities church service.

The Department of Justice launched a civil rights investigation after the group boycotted services by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” in reference to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.

Nikema Levy Armstrong’s lawyer, Jordan Kushner, who was among the first group to be arrested, said the recent prosecutions “have gone too far.”

“Peaceful protest is not a federal felony,” Kushner said.

Lundy is the director of intergovernmental affairs for Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s office, and is married to St. Paul City Councilwoman Anika Bowie. Bowie and Moriarty could not be reached for comment.

Lemon briefly interviewed Lundy, who is also a candidate for state Senate, as they gathered with protesters preparing to drive to church.

“I feel like it’s important if you’re going to represent people in office that you’re here with the people,” Lemon said, adding that he believes in “direct action, certainly within the confines of the law.”

Church leaders applaud arrests in protest

The Cities Church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and lists one of its pastors as David Easterwood, who leads ICE’s St. Paul field office.

“We are grateful that the Department of Justice acted quickly to protect Cities Church so that we can continue to faithfully live out the church’s mission to worship and proclaim Jesus,” Pastor Jonathan Parnell said Friday in a statement.

“Make no mistake. Under the leadership of President Trump and this administration, you have the right to worship freely and safely,” Bondi said in a video posted on social media on Friday. “And if I’m not already clear, if you violate this sacred right, we will come after you.”

Richer and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Dave Bauder and Aaron Morrison in New York City; Giovanna Dell’Orto, Tim Sullivan, Steve Karnovsky and Jack Brock in Minneapolis; Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed.