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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has made two more arrests in connection with the disruption of a Minnesota church service by anti-ICE demonstrators on Jan. 18, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Monday.

“If you riot in a place of worship, we WILL find you,” Bondi wrote on X. “We have made two more arrests in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota: Ian Davis Austin and Jerome Deangelo Richardson.”

A total of nine people have been arrested in connection with the incident, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon, who was busted Friday while in Los Angeles to cover the Grammy Awards.


  Pam Bondi announced two more arrests in connection with the Minneapolis church protests. AP Pam Bondi announced two more arrests in connection with the Minneapolis church protests. AP

Prosecutors claimed that Lemon, 59, “knowingly joined a mob to terrorize” the congregation at Cities Church in St. Paul — but a judge ordered him released with no bail or restrictions on his travel.

In addition to Lemon, Richardson, and Austin, a federal indictment unsealed Friday named Nekima Valdez Levy-Armstrong; Chauntyll Louisa Allen; William Scott Kelly; Trahern Jeen Crews; Jamael Lydell Lundy; and Georgia Ellyse Fort, an award-winning journalist, as defendants in the case.

All nine have been charged with conspiracy against rights and interfering with others’ freedom to worship by seeking “to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate multiple persons, including the clergy, staff, and congregants of the Cities Church,” according to the 14-page document.

Allen, Armstrong, and Kelly are all local Black Lives Matter leaders in Minnesota and joined several other members of the organization outside the house of worship before barging in with Lemon and other demonstrators.


  A total of nine people have been arrested in connection with the incident, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon (above). Instagram/Don Lemon A total of nine people have been arrested in connection with the incident, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon (above). Instagram/Don Lemon

The agitators accused Cities Church pastor David Easterwood of assisting the Trump administration’s federal immigration operations — and broke into the sanctuary during its Sunday service, chanting “ICE out.”

A man named David Easterwood serves as acting ICE director in the St. Paul field office, but The Post was unable to independently confirm whether he is the same man who leads the St. Paul church.

Before crashing the church, Lemon filmed a segment where he acknowledged that he had done “reconnaissance” with the Black Lives Matter activists.


  Prosecutors claimed that Lemon, 59, “knowingly joined a mob to terrorize” the congregation at Cities Church in St. Paul, according to reports. Don Lemon / YouTube Prosecutors claimed that Lemon, 59, “knowingly joined a mob to terrorize” the congregation at Cities Church in St. Paul, according to reports. Don Lemon / YouTube

“They’re planning an operation we’re going to follow them on. I can’t tell you exactly what they’re doing, but it’s called Operation Pull-Up,” he said.

“So that’s what we’re doing here, and after we do this operation, you’ll see it live, these operations are surprise operations. Again, I can’t tell you where they’re going,” he added.

Lemon also later did an on-camera interview inside the church with fellow pastor Jonathan Parnell, who called the protest “shameful.”

The disgraced former cable news host also echoed unsubstantiated claims of Easterwood’s association with ICE in a post on the left-leaning social media network Bluesky.

On Friday, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and FBI agents caught Lemon off guard by apprehending him at an elevator in the Beverly Hilton, where he had been staying to cover the annual music awards, law enforcement sources told The Post.

Federal judges had previously refused to sign warrants authorizing the arrest in Minnesota, but a grand jury eventually indicted Lemon and the others on Thursday.

Steven Graz, a Trump appointee sitting on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote Jan. 23 there was probable cause to justify the arrests but said in a statement the “government has failed to establish that it has no other adequate means of obtaining the requested relief.”


  People gathered in a church in Minneapolis during an anti-ICE protest. Don Lemon / YouTube People gathered in a church in Minneapolis during an anti-ICE protest. Don Lemon / YouTube

The ex-CNN anchor has since accused the Trump administration and its media allies of “losing their mind over something that’s not even true,” citing “no affiliations” with BLM and claiming his actions were “an act of journalism.”

“The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable,” claimed powerhouse Democratic attorney Abbe Lowell, who has also represented disgraced former first son Hunter Biden and New York Attorney General Letitia James, in a statement following his client’s arrest.

“Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.”


  Anti-ICE protesters stormed a church in Minneapolis in January 2026. Don Lemon / YouTube Anti-ICE protesters stormed a church in Minneapolis in January 2026. Don Lemon / YouTube

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon has hinted that Lemon may face additional charges of violating the Enforcement Act of 1871 and the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances act.

The first law was passed to bar Ku Klux Klan members from violating civil rights by engaging in racial terrorism or paramilitary vigilantism. The second law was passed in the 1990s to outlaw the blocking of abortion clinics as well as interference with religious worship.

“Whenever anyone conspires to violate the protected civil rights of American citizens,” Dhillon told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson in a Jan. 27 interview, “the Klan Act can be used to bring a conspiracy charge.”

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