Anti-ICE Activist Groups Silent on Church Invasion

The activist groups organizing opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis have not condemned the anti-ICE agitators who disrupted a church service in St. Paul on Sunday.

Between 30 and 40 anti-ICE agitators interrupted a service at Cities Church, a non-denominational Christian church in St. Paul, and shouted, “Justice for Renee Good!” as they surrounded members of the congregation. Videos of the incident show the pastor and others repeatedly asking the agitators to leave, and the agitators chanting, “Who shut this down? We shut this down!”

An ICE agent fatally shot Good on Jan. 7 while she was driving her car, right after her car appeared to make contact with him. She had been using the car for hours to obstruct traffic and frustrate ICE’s law enforcement efforts.

The agitators on Sunday targeted the church because one of the pastors, David Easterwood, also works with ICE.

Nekima Armstrong, leader of the Racial Justice Network and a former president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP, told Democracy Now that she does not regret helping to lead the protest.

“We are unapologetic about going into the church,” Armstrong said. She called it a “conflict of interest” for a pastor to oversee “the brutal conduct of ICE agents.”

The Department of Justice is investigating the church invasion and is considering charges against Armstrong and others.

When asked about the prospect of facing charges, Armstrong called it “hypocrisy” that the Justice Department would investigate the agitators but not the ICE agent who shot Good. She also faulted President Donald Trump for enabling ICE to arrest illegal aliens inside churches with a warrant.

The Daily Signal reached out to the Racial Justice Network, and to other activist groups organizing anti-ICE actions in the Twin Cities area, for comment and did not receive responses by press time.

The activist groups have organized efforts to monitor federal agents, actively disrupt immigration enforcement operations, and conduct “sit-in” protests.

Indivisible Twin Cities

Indivisible Twin Cities has organized protests against ICE and urges supporters to join “ICE Watch” groups.

The group’s weekly newsletter for Jan. 5 included a list of “Weekly To-Dos” including, “Join Your Neighborhood Network” to “do hyper local ICE watch, rapid response, school patrols, mutual aid, and more.”

Good had joined one of these ICE Watch groups, which track and aim to disrupt ICE activities, the New York Post reported.

Indivisible Twin Cities also helped organize sit-ins at Target stores.

Agitators staged a sit-in at a St. Paul Target Monday, with agitators claiming that the retail stores have served as a “staging ground” for ICE.

Last week, Indivisible Twin Cities urged supporters to “Demand Target Commit to be a 4th Amendment Workplace.”

The group urges activists to speak with Target managers and demand that stores prohibit “immigration enforcement from entering private spaces without a warrant signed by a judge;” that Target “train all employees about how to respond if immigration enforcement tries to enter their stores;” and that Target Corporation “issue a public call for ICE to leave Minnesota and for Congress to hold ICE accountable and stop funding ICE.”

Defend the 612

Defend the 612 also organizes “ICE Watch” activities. It hosts a “de-arrest primer,” which encourages activists to physically prevent law enforcement from carrying out arrests, on a list of “MN Community Response Resources.” The resources page also recommends a tactic of “following ICE vehicles while honking and blowing on whistles when they are sighted,” aiming to create “traffic jams and slowdowns.”

Unidos MN

Unidos MN, a left-leaning group that also pushes climate alarmism, has organized forms of opposition against ICE.

Like Indivisible, Unidos MN urges supporters to demand that Target oppose the ICE surge in Minnesota and that Target refuse to allow immigration agents to enter without judicial warrants. Unidos cites the detaining of two U.S. citizens at a Target in Richfield, Minn., as the reason for targeting the corporation. The Department of Homeland Security claimed one of the detained men had assaulted an officer.

Unidos has claimed to have trained 26,000 individuals to be “neighborhood observers” to monitor government officials amid the ICE surge. Unidos has claimed that the government falsely treats peaceful “trained observers” as “interference.”

The Party for Socialism and Liberation

The political Party for Socialism and Liberation has organized many anti-ICE protests and is currently promoting an “ICE OUT! Statewide Shutdown” on Friday.

The party has posted video interviews with business owners who plan to close their businesses that day.

Democratic Socialists of America

Similarly, the Democratic Socialists of America’s Twin Cities chapter hosted a training for the Jan. 23 protest.

The Daily Signal reached out to Indivisible Twin Cities, Defend the 612, Unidos MN, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Democratic Socialists of America, and the Racial Justice Network for comment on the church invasion, and none responded by press time.

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