Activists Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen were arrested Thursday morning by federal authorities for protesting at a St. Paul church over the weekend, and remain in federal custody at a county jail as their attorneys and prosecutors argue over their release.
Levy Armstrong’s husband, Marques Armstrong, said the women cooperated with federal agents, who targeted them for organizing a protest Sunday at Cities Church in St. Paul. William Kelly, another protester who was at the church, was also arrested Thursday. All three are charged with conspiracy to deprive others of their constitutional rights.
“My wife wasn’t taken, she gave herself up,” Marques said of his wife’s demeanor during the arrest. “She is fierce, she is strong and she is powerful. That is how she stood.”
Another protest organizer, Monique Cullars Doty, a member of Black Lives Matter MN and the aunt of Marcus Golden, who was killed by St. Paul Police in 2015, told Sahan Journal that she was not arrested. She went to the Warren E. Burger Federal Building Thursday morning with her attorney to see if there was a warrant for her arrest and she said they didn’t have one.
Jordan Kushner, Levy Armstrong’s attorney, said he had tried to arrange for her to turn herself in, but federal prosecutors chose instead to arrest her in person.
“This is all about persecution, intimidation, show, propaganda, politics – everything that has nothing to do with the law or justice,” he said.
Armstrong and Allen appeared in front of U.S. District Judge Douglas Micko Thursday. Micko ordered that they be released from federal custody, saying that they were not a threat to public safety and were at low-risk of fleeing future court obligations.
However, the judge also gave federal prosecutors an hour to file an appeal, which will be reviewed by a higher court judge, meaning Armstrong and Allen were not released despite Micko’s order. Armstrong and Allen are in custody at the Sherburne County jail, according to their attorneys.
Levy Armstrong and Allen organized the protest calling for one of Cities Church’s pastors, David Easterwood, to resign because he leads the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in St. Paul. The protest came after increasing immigration enforcement activity in Minnesota that has resulted in use of force by federal agents, accusations of racial profiling, and the arrest of children and U.S. citizens.
Federal agents also shot and killed Renee Nicole Macklin Good on Jan. 7, and shot and wounded Julio Cesar Sosa Celis on Jan. 14 during immigration operations.
About 50 people gathered outside and inside the St. Paul federal court house in downtown St. Paul to support Levy Armstrong and Allen. Several community members and activists spoke at a news conference, noting that Allen and Armstrong are prominent Black women with a history of activism. Armstrong is a civil rights attorney, activist and former president of the Minneapolis branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Allen is a St. Paul School Board member.
“Since when do we arrest community members who are standing up for other community members who are being dragged out in the freezing cold, who are being kicked and hurt, who are being murdered quietly, children who are being stolen from their families,” said activist Raeisha Williams, who is close friends with Levy Armstrong. “When as a nation, is this okay?”
Activist Danielle Swift said the federal government’s targeting Armstrong and Allen is an attempt to “intimidate the Twin Cities.”
“If you were out to see the protests, they are so diverse, but who they choose to make an example of are our black women leaders,” she said.
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Feds celebrate arrests
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in multiple posts on X Thursday morning that Homeland Security Investigations and FBI agents had arrested Armstrong and Allen.
“Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP,” Bondi wrote.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted a photo of Levy Armstrong in handcuffs on X, and said the activist will be charged with conspiring to oppress, threaten or intimidate someone from exercising constitutional rights. The White House reposted a version of the photo on its official account, but the image appeared to had been altered by AI to make Levy Armstrong look like she was crying.
Videos circulating on social media of Sunday’s protest at Cities Church show protesters following Levy Armstrong into the church and interrupting the service. Protesters point out Easterwood’s connection to the federal agency and chant, “Justice for Renee Good.”
“The idea that someone can facilitate the brutalization of immigrants and citizens, allow his officers to sexually assault women, gas families driving in their own neighborhood, kidnap children and parents in front of schools, shoot and kill our neighbors and then preach sermons about God and morality is patently ridiculous,” Jae Yates an activist with Twin Cities Coalition for Justice said of Easterwood. “It’s vile and it’s hypocritical.”
A Sahan Journal reporter visited the church Thursday morning, and a person who answered the door declined to comment.
Attorneys Renee Carlson and Doug Wardlow, who represent Cities Church, applauded the arrests, referring to the protesters’ disruption of church services as an effort to terrorize and intimidate worshippers.
“The First Amendment does not allow premeditated plots or coordinated actions to violate the sanctity of a sanctuary, disrupt worship, and intimidate small children,” said Carlson in a written statement. “The Constitution protects citizens from threats against fundamental rights by the government, but it also requires government to protect those same rights when they are jeopardized by private actors.”
In a Facebook post hours before her arrest Thursday morning, Allen said peaceful protests are being criminalized while violence by ICE agents is being ignored, and called the federal government’s actions “spiritual warfare.”
“Unlike the brutal conduct of ICE, Christ never led anyone to be cruel to their neighbors or to terrorize their communities,” Allen wrote. “He utterly despised that kind of treatment and would have confronted it even within the church itself. That was and remains our expectation for Cities Church.”
Twin Cities Coalition for Justice held a news conference with other community organizations Thursday, calling the charges against Levy Armstrong and Allen fraudulent.
“We announce our intent to fight these bogus charges and hold ICE and this criminal administration full of hypocrites accountable,” Yates said. “Whether you try to hide behind religion or authority, we see you, and we will not stop until you face justice for the harm done to our people.”
They demanded the women’s release, and the dismissal of all charges against them.
Speakers also said the effort to charge protesters is hypocritical given ICE’s targeting of houses of worship that cater to immigrant communities.
“This story is all too familiar in many churches, mosques and other houses of worship across the country,” said Alvin Sheng with the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, who told reporters his own church has had to hire private security to protect its congregation. “ICE agents are the ones trampling on our right to religious freedom, and not the protesters calling a church to account for enabling the abuse of our community.”
