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On January 18, 2026, roughly three dozen anti-ICE demonstrators swept into Cities Church in St. Paul and interrupted a Sunday service, targeting a pastor who also serves in a local ICE field office. The chaotic scene — captured on livestream and amplified across social media — prompted the Department of Justice to open a civil rights probe into whether federal statutes protecting houses of worship were violated.
Watching video of protesters chanting “ICE out” and blowing whistles in the middle of worship makes most Americans uneasy; a place of worship should not be a battleground for political theater. Faith communities deserve protection from invasions of their sanctuaries, and clergy and congregants ought to be able to worship without fear of being harassed or shouted down.
Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was on scene and livestreamed portions of the disruption, and he has publicly defended his actions, insisting he was doing journalism and saying, “I stand by my reporting.” But for conservative Americans who have watched the media’s meltdown for years, Lemon’s presence among the mob looks less like neutral reporting and more like the left’s latest stunt to weaponize the press against religion and law enforcement.
This wasn’t a spontaneous outburst; organizers with ties to local activist groups coordinated the incursion, and their leaders have openly celebrated the confrontation. That kind of organized trespass into a house of worship crosses a red line — and it exposes again the dangerous slide from protest to persecution when serious activists treat churches like political targets rather than sacred spaces.
Washington’s response so far has been appropriate: Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon publicly warned that federal laws, including provisions meant to safeguard worshippers, could be used to hold lawbreakers accountable. Conservatives should cheer enforcement, because defending religious freedom and public order isn’t partisan — it’s the foundation of a free society where citizens can worship without being terrorized by mobs.
Hardworking Americans watching this unfold should demand the same thing from their leaders — protection of churches, impartial application of the law, and an immediate end to the media’s role in normalizing political intimidation. If the left will not police its own radicals, then prosecutors, parishioners, and everyday patriots must stand shoulder to shoulder to defend the sanctuary and the rule of law.
