Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Monday that federal agents had arrested two more individuals in connection with the storming of a church in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Bondi identified the suspects as Ian Davis Austin and Jerome Deangelo Richardson, saying the arrests were the result of a “coordinated attack on Cities Church” on January 18. Nine individuals have now been charged in connection with the protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, where an ICE official serves as a pastor.
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The other individuals involved have been charged with conspiring to violate someone’s constitutional rights, as well as violations of the FACE Act, a 1994 law that prohibits the use of force, intimidation, or obstruction to intentionally “injure, intimidate, or interfere” with an individual’s ability to exercise their right to religious freedom at a place of worship. The two additional individuals are expected to face the same charges.
“If you riot in a place of worship, we WILL find you,” Bondi said on X.
Last month, a group of anti-ICE protesters was caught on video interrupting a church service in St. Paul by chanting “ICE out.” The Justice Department has filed charges against nine people connected to the protest.
FACE Act infractions include penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment, depending on the violation of the alleged offense and other factors.
The additional arrests come after the Justice Department detained former CNN anchor Don Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort on Friday for allegedly violating the FACE Act for their participation in the same protest, according to their indictments.
A federal magistrate court in Minnesota previously dismissed the Justice Department’s original attempt to file criminal charges against Lemon in connection with the Jan. 18 protest, calling the administration’s case “frivolous.”
Lemon and Fort claimed to have attended the demonstration as reporters rather than protesters.
Their arrests raised renewed worries about journalists’ First Amendment rights, particularly from Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her.
“The arrest today of journalists for covering a protest is deeply chilling,” Her said in a statement Friday. “We need to all be hyper vigilant and call out the way this administration has eroded our First Amendment and other Constitutional rights — because if we let this go unanswered, it won’t stop here.”
