type: timeline_event
Anti-ICE protesters disrupted a Sunday worship service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on January 18, 2026, chanting "ICE out" and "Justice for Renee Good" in reference to Renée Nicole Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE agent on January 7 during Operation Metro Surge. The protesters targeted the Southern Baptist church because one of its pastors, David Easterwood, serves as the acting Field Director of ICE's St. Paul field office.
According to witness accounts, several dozen people gathered in a grocery store parking lot before the action, where organizers provided instructions on what to do upon arrival at the church. During the service, protesters entered the sanctuary and occupied space in the main aisle and rows of chairs near the front, leading to tense confrontations as congregants attempted to leave.
Multiple journalists, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort, were present livestreaming the protest. Both explicitly identified themselves as journalists documenting the event, not as participants in the protest action.
The incident occurred amid an unprecedented immigration crackdown in which the federal government deployed 3,000 federal immigration agents to the Twin Cities over two months, arresting more than 3,000 undocumented immigrants. The operation resulted in two civilian deaths: Renee Good, 37, and Alex Pretti, 37, both shot and killed by federal immigration authorities in separate confrontations.
President Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem quickly denounced the protest. Bondi vowed to use federal civil rights laws, including the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, to prosecute demonstrators. This protest would become the basis for federal conspiracy charges against nine individuals, including two working journalists, marking a dangerous escalation in government attacks on press freedom and First Amendment rights.