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Americans watched in disgust as a mob stormed Cities Church in St. Paul on January 18, 2026, interrupting worship and chanting for the removal of ICE from the community. This wasn’t a peaceful sit-in or a heartfelt plea — it was a deliberate disruption of a house of worship on a Sunday morning, and the country rightly recoiled.
The Trump administration moved quickly and decisively, and federal agents executed arrests on January 22, taking into custody civil-rights activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, St. Paul school board member Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and William Kelly — the online provocateur known as “Da Woke Farmer.” Attorney General Pam Bondi publicly vowed to defend religious liberty, and Homeland Security and FBI personnel carried out the orders to restore order where local tolerance had failed.
Federal prosecutors say the actions met the threshold for conspiracy to deprive congregants of their constitutional rights under 18 U.S.C. § 241, a serious charge that signals the administration will not treat attacks on religious freedom as mere political theater. Magistrates imposed bond conditions and travel restrictions on those charged while the Justice Department presses the case, sending a stark message that sacred spaces are off-limits for political stunts.
Even the media circus didn’t go unchallenged: prosecutors reportedly sought charges against independent journalist Don Lemon but a judge refused to sign off, underscoring that the First Amendment protects reporting — not disrupting worship. That distinction matters; lawful reporting gets First Amendment cover, lawless interruption of religious services does not.
William Kelly, the man who style-billed himself “Da Woke Farmer,” publicly taunted federal authorities and dared Pam Bondi to arrest him on camera, only to learn that challenges to law and order have real consequences. His crude online bravado and attempts to turn religious disruption into viral content were always going to meet a backlash once an administration committed to protecting houses of worship took action.
Some on the left will howl that this is political retribution, but the truth is simpler and purer: Americans of faith have a right to worship without intimidation, and the government has an obligation to protect that right. When local officials and activists treat sacred gatherings as targets, federal intervention is not only justified — it is necessary to uphold the rule of law and basic civil liberties.
Let this be a warning to would-be agitators: public theater that crosses into intimidation and disruption of worship will not be tolerated. Patriots who respect faith and order should take heart that the administration acted, and everyone who values religious freedom should stand ready to defend our houses of worship from the mob.
