Anti-ICE Church Protest Defendants Face Federal Charges | EUROtoday

One of the primary issues Nekima Levy Armstrong noticed after spending the night time in a Minnesota jail on federal prices was a photograph of herself in handcuffs that the White House had altered considerably, giving her darker pores and skin and making it appear as if she had wept hysterically upon being arrested.

“The federal government could not break me during my arrest, so they put out an image attempting to portray me as being broken,” Armstrong mentioned. “Historically, it’s not unlike the ways in which Black people have been caricaturized, using these images of Sambos and mammies and darkened skin.”

“It’s a way of dehumanizing us,” mentioned Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer and activist who beforehand served as president of the Minneapolis NAACP.

Armstrong was detained after federal brokers arrested her for main what the Donald Trump administration’s prime civil rights lawyer referred to as a “demonic and godless” show: an illustration that briefly interrupted a service at Cities Church in Saint Paul, the place one of many Midwest’s prime Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers serves as a pastor.

The demonstration, which concerned dozens of individuals, made nationwide headlines, partially as a result of journalist Don Lemon, a former CNN anchor, was there to livestream. Several waves of aggressive arrests adopted as the federal government recognized alleged protesters; 39 folks, together with Lemon, now face federal prices associated to the incident — and probably years behind bars.

In current weeks, as prosecutors put together to argue the protesters violated congregants’ spiritual liberty, eight of the defendants within the case spoke to HuffPost about being focused by the Trump administration. Many described therapy seemingly meant to humiliate and intimidate them, together with being confronted by closely armed federal brokers, detained in multipoint shackles, and made to pose with brokers for “trophy” pictures.

They say there’s extra in danger than their liberty: Even if the costs fail in courtroom, the case exhibits that the Trump administration is prepared to make an instance of them, punishing them for utilizing their proper to protest.

“I don’t think anyone thought the federal government would turn a nonviolent, peaceful protest into federal criminal charges,” Armstrong mentioned. “We’re being criminalized by the federal government for standing up for what is right.”

The defendants within the church protest case, together with two co-founders of Black Lives Matter Minnesota and a Saint Paul School Board member, signify a veteran technology of activists within the Twin Cities who’ve fought for racial justice going again many years. The police homicide of George Floyd in 2020 led to protests internationally — however by then, activists within the Twin Cities had been organizing round racial justice for years, together with with an 18-day occupation exterior a Minneapolis police precinct following the 2015 police killing of Jamar Clark.

The demonstrators at Cities Church got here collectively in response to a flyer Armstrong posted on social media, the indictment alleges. On Jan. 18, 11 days after ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Good, the protesters arrived on the church to denounce the truth that David Easterwood, the director of Enforcement and Removal Operations at ICE’s Saint Paul subject workplace, serves as a pastor there.

“It doesn’t add up to us, people who were raised Christian, to have a minister preaching the word of God… while also being a leader of Minneapolis-Saint Paul ICE, which is systematically oppressing people by race, and doing all of these things fundamentally opposed to the teachings of the Bible and Jesus,” mentioned Ian Austin, who was among the many protesters.

Some of the protesters joined the service for some time, earlier than Armstrong, who famous she is an ordained reverend, interjected and introduced Easterwood’s function with ICE to the congregation.

As the protesters launched into chants, together with “Justice for Renee Good!,” the church turned the music up, Armstrong recalled, seemingly an try to drown out their voices.

While video exhibits protesters and congregants partaking with one another, typically angrily, it doesn’t seem to indicate any violence, nor any apparent try by protesters to dam church pathways or exits, as federal prosecutors allege. (Some defendants within the case who spoke to HuffPost declined to debate particulars of the protest, citing the open legal case.)

“I probably spent 60% of the time having conversations with some of the churchgoers,” Austin mentioned. “Shit, I was singing along with the hymns.”

Some congregants informed the protesters they hadn’t identified about Easterwood’s function with ICE, Armstrong mentioned. It’s not clear if Easterwood was current on the time.

Easterwood is answerable for all personnel within the ICE division liable for immigration arrests and deportations in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska, he mentioned in an October press convention. He reiterated the small print of his function in a January courtroom submitting, which famous that he began working as an ICE deportation officer in 2015.

Separately in January, Easterwood was named as a defendant in a lawsuit during which Minnesota residents represented by the American Civil Liberties Union alleged federal brokers had violated the Constitution, together with by stopping folks based mostly on their race and performing warrantless arrests with out possible trigger. (A Trump-appointed federal decide wrote earlier this month that plaintiffs “have provided strong evidence” of unconstitutional conduct by the federal government.) Easterwood continues to be listed on-line as a pastor at Cities Church.

A spokesperson for the church pointed HuffPost to a number of statements from church leaders and their legal professionals relating to the protest, accusing the protesters of disrupting congregants’ spiritual rights.

Trump officers have referred to the protesters as partaking in a “coordinated attack.” They have charged the protesters with committing what’s generally known as “conspiracy against rights,” a cost that originated throughout Reconstruction to guard Black church buildings from the Ku Klux Klan, and with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which has primarily been used to prosecute individuals who block abortion clinic entrances, although it additionally contains language about spiritual establishments. (Last 12 months, Trump pardoned some two dozen anti-abortion activists convicted of FACE Act violations, and Trump’s Justice Department has mentioned it would solely pursue “abortion-related” FACE Act violations in “extraordinary circumstances.”)

Prosecutors have to date not laid out proof to help the costs filed in a sparse superseding indictment, which accuses the protesters of partaking in “acts of oppression, intimidation, threats, interference, and physical obstruction.”

“They’re lying about the whole damn thing,” Armstrong mentioned, noting that a number of movies exist that contradict the federal government’s claims.

Austin, who deployed to Afghanistan six occasions as an Army Ranger, mentioned he was “standing up for those very same things that I thought I was going to war for.”

“I’m being charged by my own government with federal felonies for having the audacity to stand up and say, ‘Hey, stop fucking oppressing people by race,’” he mentioned.

William Kelly, an Army veteran who deployed to Iraq in 2008, was additionally on the protest. Kelly goes by DaWokeFarmer on social media and has constructed an internet profile as somebody who loudly tells off federal brokers on the streets.

“We wanted to get the entire country talking about the fact that this regional director of ICE is also a pastor, [and] that that’s contradictory, that is the opposite of Christianity,” he mentioned. “And so yes, I raised my voice.”

“Honestly, I was toned down compared to what I normally do,” he mentioned.

Monique Cullars-Doty, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Minnesota and one other of the Cities Church defendants, mentioned she believed Easterwood to be misplaced in spiritual transgression — “overtaken in a fault,” as she put it.

Accountability for legislation enforcement is private for Cullars-Doty. Her nephew, Marcus Golden, was shot and killed by Saint Paul police in 2015, leading to what Cullars-Doty describes as an in depth police cover-up, and in the end, a $1.3 million settlement for his household.

“Either you’re going to worship and serve God, or you’re going to serve money and man in this administration. But you can’t do both and call yourself a Christian,” she mentioned.

After about 25 minutes of chanting contained in the church, and after most congregants had left, the demonstrators filed exterior.

Many of the arrests of the Cities Church protesters appeared designed for spectacle and humiliation.

Armstrong was staying at a resort close to the federal courthouse in Minneapolis when, in line with her lawyer, the highest federal prosecutor in Minnesota, Daniel Rosen, agreed to permit her to show herself in to U.S. marshals on the federal courthouse — solely to reverse course, insisting Armstrong must be arrested at her resort. It was solely then that brokers had been in a position to document the footage that will grow to be a racist White House meme.

On Feb. 27, Drew Edwards, who demonstrated alongside Armstrong, heard footsteps exterior his window when he awakened at 6 a.m. to meditate.

When Edwards went to see what was occurring, federal brokers pointed lengthy weapons and flashlights in his face, telling him to go to the entrance door. Before he might open it, they knocked it down with a battering ram, handcuffing him and taking him away with out giving him the prospect to retrieve his pants or footwear.

It can be hours earlier than anybody provided him pants, he mentioned, and within the meantime, a number of brokers took pictures of him on the Whipple federal constructing, a hub for ICE within the Twin Cities and a central detention level for immigrants taken into ICE custody.

“There was no reason to knock my door down,” he informed HuffPost, besides “to put me in danger, to be destructive, and to try to intimidate.”

Brixton Hughes — the nom de guerre of David Okar, an impartial journalist who covers racial justice exercise within the Twin Cities — additionally had his door knocked in with a battering ram. He was in his basement and responded to officers’ orders to climb the steps solely to come across “a guy at the top of the stairs with a gun pointed, literally, at my head.”

Authorities seized detainees’ cell telephones and typically refused to indicate warrant paperwork. Rather than take them on to federal courtroom, they first introduced most of them to the Whipple constructing. They took DNA swabs along with mug pictures. They shackled the detainees at their wrists, waists and toes.

Cheryl Persigehl, a semi-retired government coach who has been energetic in racial justice protests because the police killing of Philando Castile 10 years in the past, mentioned that after a number of hours on the Whipple constructing, U.S. marshals eliminated her handcuffs as quickly as she was transferred to their custody on the federal courthouse in Saint Paul.

“The first comment I heard, from one of the federal marshals, was, ‘This is bullshit, they could have just sent you a summons,’” Persigehl mentioned. (Given the character of the case, it was “highly unusual” that protesters dealing with prices weren’t merely allowed to show themselves in, in line with her lawyer, Amy Conners.)

Agents appeared to need to make examples of the protesters, and captured pictures and movies of them after their arrests, a number of folks informed HuffPost.

“There were a lot of cell phones, agents taking photos and video of us,” Persigehl mentioned. Detainees had been every chaperoned by an agent, she mentioned, and had been made to pose for pictures with these brokers “like we were trophies.”

She recalled one agent who gave the impression to be in cost telling the others, “Be sure that you are wearing visible insignia, identification, as an agent, because we’re taking photos.”

“They know that this case isn’t going to hold,” Kelly mentioned. “They just want to intimidate us, they want to scare us, they want to scare other people who might protest against ICE leadership.”

In federal custody, he mentioned, brokers photographed him “like the catch of the day.”

Trahern Crews, who co-founded Black Lives Matter Minnesota with Cullars-Doty, mentioned he was photographed as two brokers held every of his arms and turned their backs to the digicam — a pose that has grow to be the Homeland Security normal.

“It didn’t seem like it was about justice,” he mentioned. “It seemed like it was about humiliation and propaganda.”

Like Cullars-Doty, Crews has private expertise with state violence. His nephew, Hardel Sherrell, died within the Beltrami County Jail in 2018 after spending days begging for medical care he by no means acquired. Michelle Skroch, a nurse within the jail, now faces felony manslaughter and neglect prices.

Sitting, shackled, within the Whipple federal constructing close to Historic Fort Snelling, Crews considered Dred and Harriet Scott, who had been held in bondage as enslaved folks almost 200 years earlier on the fort. The Supreme Court’s denial of Dred Scott’s humanity — of his proper to sue for his freedom — laid the groundwork for the Civil War.

“I was like, ‘Wow, I’m here in chains at Fort Snelling right now, where Dred and Harriet Scott were in bondage,’” Crews mentioned. “But I knew I didn’t harm anybody. I knew that what was happening to me was unjust.”

According to the Justice Department, even the suggestion that “proper procedures were not followed” in the course of the church protesters’ arrests is “false,” spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre informed HuffPost in an electronic mail.

The case towards the protesters presents an uphill battle for the Justice Department. Law professors and authorized analysts have referred to the costs as “overkill” and “overreach at best.”

On early arrest warrants, Magistrate Judge Douglas L. Micko actually crossed out the FACE Act cost in pen, writing in block letters, “NO PROBABLE CAUSE.” Micko additionally refused to subject warrants for 5 different would-be defendants; just a few days later, prosecutors secured a grand jury indictment for his or her preliminary arrest targets.

On Friday, Micko referred to as out federal prosecutors dragging their toes within the discovery course of.

“So, here we are, months into a case that the government had an intense appetite to initiate, but cannot seem to keep up the pace when it comes to discovery obligations,” the decide wrote. “This is unacceptable.”

“Conspiracy against rights” prices can lead to as much as 10 years in jail. And somebody convicted of their first FACE Act violation can face anyplace from six months to 10 years behind bars, with the higher restrict making use of “if bodily injury results” from somebody’s actions.

The superseding indictment alleges that the actions of the 39 defendants “resulted in a bodily injury to one of the congregants.” It doesn’t specify additional, however a federal agent’s affidavit alleges that one unidentified particular person slipped and broke her arm whereas exiting the church.

All of the defendants who’ve been arraigned have pleaded not responsible, and a few are combating the costs earlier than they attain trial. Last month, Austin filed a movement to dismiss the costs towards him for “failure to state a claim” — even when every little thing alleged about his actions contained in the church is true, his lawyer argued, it doesn’t quantity to a federal offense.

The federal prices danger sidelining dozens of seasoned activists, who now face potential custody throughout their legal case if they’ve a run-in with the legislation — which isn’t unlikely in a metropolis nonetheless internet hosting lots of of federal brokers.

“I’m driving and checking my speed constantly,” Cullars-Doty mentioned.

Hughes mentioned he was now extra hesitant about pursuing his work documenting protest actions within the Twin Cities.

“If I’m going somewhere to cover something and there’s likely to be police action, I’m much more aware of that,” he mentioned. “Typically, I would be right there in the midst of it, but now I tell myself, if that kind of shit hits the fan when you’re out here, just walk away, because you don’t need that. So, yeah, I hate to admit it, but it has put that fear in me.”

Crews mentioned he felt the indictment was meant to have a chilling impact on native activists.

“It just adds stress to the leadership up here,” he mentioned. “We have very effective grassroots leadership here, and I think this indictment is a way to silence and slow down that leadership — especially in an election year.”

Still, a number of defendants conveyed a way of resolve within the face of the costs.

Austin, who has lengthy battled post-traumatic stress dysfunction from his time in Afghanistan, mentioned becoming a member of protests within the Twin Cities has felt like a realization of the last decade of labor he’s performed on himself. “I’ve had so many veterans reaching out, saying, ‘Hey, you’re giving me the freedom to take action myself,’” he mentioned.

Cullars-Doty mentioned the protest was “a righteous action — it was just, it was necessary.” When federal brokers arrived at her door at 4:30 a.m., saying that they’d a warrant for her arrest, she recalled feeling “a blanket of peace.”

“I had so much peace, I did not hear my dog barking. I guess they were banging on the door, ringing the bell — I didn’t hear any of that,” she recalled.

Inside federal brokers’ van, she started praising God.

“It’s in God’s hands. Worst-case scenario? Where can I go that he is not?” she mentioned.

Even if convicted, “I would have a prison ministry,” Cullars-Doty added. “But I believe that we will win.”

Armstrong mentioned the federal government was engaged in a retaliatory course of to “punish dissent, and to try to silence our voices.”

“We know that we’re standing on the right side of history,” she mentioned.