A St. Paul city attorney announced Tuesday that the state of Minnesota will not pursue charges against protesters who allegedly stormed into Cities Church in January.
St. Paul City Attorney Irene Kao said that prosecutors carefully examined videos, investigative reports and other resources before deciding there was insufficient evidence for filing criminal charges, according to a statement released Tuesday and cited by CBS News.
Over 30 individuals, including former CNN host Don Lemon, were federally charged for their alleged involvement in the anti-ICE demonstration at the church.
Kao stated that her office’s decision hinged upon balancing “equally important rights.”
“This decision should not be interpreted as an endorsement of unlawful behavior or public disorder,” Kao said in the same statement. “The right to peacefully protest is protected, as is the right to exercise one’s religious beliefs. Balancing these equally important rights is paramount to our decision today.”
Kao argued that violence and “threats to public safety” did not occur at Cities Church.
“However, acts of violence, property destruction, or threats to public safety – none of which occurred here – remain serious concerns and will be prosecuted when supported by admissible evidence,” she continued.
Church attorneys from True North Legal blasted the city attorney’s decision, arguing that it demonstrated the law’s ability to “bend” with the politics of the powerful.
According to the city attorney’s logic, it is perfectly fine for agitators to invade a mosque, a cathedral, or a temple, shout in people’s faces, terrorize their children, and shut down their religious gathering.
Just call it a “protest.”
That is the kind of city Kaohly Her… https://t.co/hJLu7lQNgQ
— Jonathan Parnell (@jonathanparnell) June 3, 2026
“The St. Paul City Attorney’s decision treats the church like it’s a public sidewalk—as if the sanctuary were an open forum that anyone may seize mid-service, rather than private property where a congregation has the right to worship undisturbed,” said Doug Wardlow, director of litigation for True North Legal, in a statement cited by the Daily Signal.
“By wrongly characterizing the invasion and takeover of a worship service as First Amendment-protected conduct, the city attorney’s office sends an unmistakable signal: The law will bend for those whose cause aligns with the politics of those in power,” he added.
Jonathan Parnell, the lead pastor of Cities Church, described how this decision could set a precedent for protestors entering other religious establishments.
“According to the St. Paul City Attorney’s logic, it is perfectly fine for agitators to invade a mosque, a cathedral, or a temple, intimidate the families and children inside, and shut down their religious gathering. Just call it a ‘protest,’” he said in an X post.
Parnell further questioned Kao’s commitment to protecting evangelical Christians.
“City Attorney Irene Kao’s decision not to charge the agitators who invaded our church on January 18, 2026, leaves us to question whether her commitment to protect religious people includes evangelical Christians,” Parnell said, according to the Daily Signal.
Dozens of protesters allegedly entered Cities Church in the middle of a Sunday worship service in January. Protestors alleged that David Easterwood — one of the church’s pastors — served as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office director.
At the time, the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention put out a statement.
“The group interrupted the service to demand the congregation denounce the federal government’s immigration enforcement, specifically targeting the role of Pastor David Easterwood as a field office director for ICE,” the statement read in part.
The anti-ICE agitators allegedly “engaged in acts of oppression, intimidation, threats, interference, and physical obstruction,” according to the District of Minnesota United States Attorney’s Office. (RELATED: ICE Agent Arrested Over Non-Fatal Shooting In Tim Walz’s Minnesota)
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – JUNE 03: Protestors gather outside the federal immigration center at Delaney Hall, where ICE is housing detained immigrants, on June 03, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Protesters chanted “ICE Out!” and “Who shut this down? We shut this down!” as they occupied the sanctuary, according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment cited by the Daily Signal. They also allegedly blocked parishioners from leaving, stood in the way of parents trying to get their children from Sunday School and continued to scream as children cried, the outlet reported, citing the indictment.
The suspects face felony charges of “Conspiracy Against Right of Religious Freedom at Place of Worship” and a misdemeanor offense of “Injure, Intimidate, and Interfere with Exercise of Right of Religious Freedom at Place of Worship,” according to the District of Minnesota United States Attorney’s Office.
The misdemeanor offense falls under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act of 1994. This act forbids threatening to use or using intimidation or physical means to stop someone from getting an abortion or exercising their right to religious freedom at places of worship.
The Biden administration allegedly weaponized the FACE Act against pro-life protesters, according to the DOJ’s recent report, leading Republicans to try to repeal it while he was still in office.
Today, @thejusticedept unsealed an indictment charging 30 more people who took part in the attack on Cities Church in Minnesota.
At my direction, federal agents have already arrested 25 of them, with more to come throughout the day.
YOU CANNOT ATTACK A HOUSE OF WORSHIP. If you…
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) February 27, 2026
Some states are cracking down on protests in churches. Since the start of 2026, at least four states — Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Kansas — have passed legislation criminalizing the disruption of worship services, according to the Associated Press (AP).
“People should go to church to be able to sit in peace, worship as they please, without having to worry about people coming in and harassing them,” said Republican Idaho state Sen. Mark Harris, who co-sponsored a law banning protests in places of worship, according to AP. “I think the thing that happened in Minnesota was kind of a shock to some of us, that churches would be used as a place to berate people.”