The Trump Justice Department secured a new indictment charging 30 more people in connection with an anti-ICE protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, in January.
Nine others, including the former CNN journalist Don Lemon, have already been charged.
Attorney General Pam Bondi posted Friday on X that federal agents had “already arrested” 25 of the newly added defendants “with more to come throughout the day.”
Demonstrators entered the Cities Church on Jan. 18 because they said its pastor worked for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The demonstration came as protests grew over the Trump administration’s immigration operations in Minneapolis. Two Americans were shot to death by immigration officers and criticism over their deaths in part prompted the Trump administration to tone down its efforts there.
A federal magistrate judge previously found the Trump administration lacked probable cause to arrest Lemon and several of other defendants under a federal statute that a top Justice Department official conceded had never been used in the context of a protest at a church before.
But Lemon was eventually arrested in late January after a federal grand jury returned an indictment against him and eight others on charges of conspiracy against the rights of religious freedom at a place of worship and interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom.
Lemon has pleaded not guilty to all charges, saying outside the court, “I wanted to say this isn’t just about me, this is about all journalists, especially in the United States.”
The latest motion in the case was signed by Orlando Sonza, a former Republican congressional candidate who is now working with the Civil Rights Division under Trump administration official Harmeet Dhillon.
A church member has sued over the protest, saying the service was unlawfully disrupted as part of a coordinated political demonstration.
