The Trump Justice Department has obtained a new indictment charging 30 more people in connection with an anti-ICE protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota in January.
Nine people have already been charged, including former CNN journalist Dan Lemon.
Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on Friday that federal agents had “already arrested” 25 of the newly added defendants, with “more to come throughout the day.”
On Jan. 18, protesters entered the Cities Church in Minneapolis because they said its pastor worked for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The demonstration came amid growing protests in Minneapolis over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Two Americans were shot dead by immigration officials and criticism over their deaths has partly prompted the Trump administration to scale back its efforts there.
A federal magistrate judge previously found the Trump administration lacked probable cause to arrest Lemon and several other defendants under the federal law, which a top Justice Department official acknowledged had not been used before during protests at the church.
But Lemon was finally arrested in late January after a federal grand jury returned an indictment against him and eight others on charges of conspiracy against religious freedom rights in a place of worship and interfering with the exercise of religious freedom rights.
Lemon pleaded not guilty to all charges, saying outside court, “I want to say this is not just about me, it’s about all journalists, especially in the United States.”
The latest motion in the case was signed by former Republican congressional candidate Orlando Sonja, who now works with the Civil Rights Division under Trump administration official Harmeet Dhillon.
A church member sued the protest, claiming the service was illegally disrupted as part of an organized political demonstration.
