“Our church gathered for worship, which we do every Sunday,” Parnell said. “We asked them to leave and they obviously have not left.”
As he continued to record, Lemon said, “This is what the First Amendment is about. The freedom to protest.”
Lemon’s video showed protestors standing, yelling, and disrupting the service, as some congregants sat in their chairs peacefully raising their hands, praying, and attempting to worship.
RELATED: NAMB Calls Anti-ICE Disruption of Minnesota Church ‘Lawless Harassment’
One person in the congregation told Lemon that there are “an array of views in this church on politics of immigration. I recognize the complexity of the issue.” Another said, “I don’t necessarily agree with everything that’s going on in the Twin Cities right now, but I don’t think it’s good to fight fire with fire. I think it’s good to speak up—it’s good to protest, but I think it’s better to do it in a [peaceful] way.”
Other images and videos show children crying and families leaving as protestors yell inside of the church.
Speaking to Armstrong, Lemon said that people “think you lost and that this didn’t accomplish anything and you went into their house, the house of the Lord.”
“The reality is,” Armstrong said, “the house of the Lord is a place where love lives. It’s not a place where you can have a pastor masquerading as the director for the field office of ICE in St. Paul.”
Armstrong was referring to Cities Church Pastor/Elder David Easterwood, who was not present during the protests.
“David Easterwood is a pastor here. He is the director for the field office for ICE in St. Paul. So someone who claims to worship God, teaching people in this church about God, is out there overseeing ICE agents,” Armstrong said, standing inside the church while using a microphone. “Think about what we’ve experienced. The murder of Renee Good at the hands of ICE. A Venezuelan national shot by ICE. A 6-month-old baby who almost died as a result of ICE unleashing military grade weapons on our community.”
“How dare you be a pastor of God and you be involved in evil in our community,” she yelled.
Renee Good and Others Mentioned During the Protest
On Jan. 7, multiple videos show Good, 37, an anti-ICE protestor, using her Honda Pilot SUV to obstruct ICE officers from doing their jobs. Disregarding ICE agents’ demands that she get out of her vehicle, Good accelerated her SUV in the direction of an ICE officer, and the officer shot Good four times through the front windshield. Two bullets hit Good’s chest, another hit her left forearm, and another hit the left side of her head. Good was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that the ICE officer who shot Good suffered internal bleeding to his torso from Good’s SUV hitting him.
On Jan. 14, an ICE officer was “violently” attacked in Minneapolis while pursuing Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis after Sosa-Celis ran from officers. According DHS, as “Sosa-Celis and law enforcement were in a struggle on the ground, two subjects came out of a nearby apartment and attacked the law enforcement officer with a snow shovel and broom handle.”
“Sosa-Celis got loose and began striking the officer with a shovel or broom stick,” DHS reported. “Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life. Sosa-Celis was hit in the leg.”
