Mary Rooke Commentary and Analysis Writer
The same Minnesota family federally indicted for physically assaulting journalist Savanah Hernandez has now turned their legal firepower on their own estranged daughter.
Chris Ostroushko, along with his wife Deyanna and daughter Paige, made national headlines when they allegedly attacked Hernandez at an anti-ICE protest outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Video captured the three Ostroushkos aggressively confronting Hernandez, a Turning Point USA reporter covering the protest.
Chris is seen body-checking and shoving her to the ground. DeYanna and Paige surrounded her, yelled slurs, blew a whistle in her ear, and joined in the physical assault as she tried to deescalate and leave. Hernandez suffered a concussion, neck and back injuries, and a strained ankle. She was left with emotional trauma and broken glasses. All three face federal criminal charges for assault and, in Chris and Paige’s case, interfering with a journalist on federal property.
I was just brutally assaulted by multiple people outside of the Whipple ICE facility in Minneapolis.
Multiple people swung on me and a grown man pushed me to the ground. My glasses are broken. ANTIFA still alive and well.
I’m talking with police about pressing charges.
— Savanah Hernandez (@Savsays) April 11, 2026
Hernandez has filed her own civil lawsuit (Hernandez v. Ostroushko et al.) seeking more than $75,000 in damages for battery and assault.
Almost immediately after the attack went viral, Desiree Ostroushko, Chris’s second daughter and Paige’s older sister, denounced her family’s actions in a public statement.
“I do not align with my family’s actions in this situation at all. I don’t agree with what was done, I don’t support it, and I don’t stand behind it in any way. Violence is never acceptable to me, no matter the circumstances, opinions, or political beliefs involved. What happened to Savanah was wrong. Plain and simple,” she said
Desiree added that when political disagreements devolve into “violence, hatred, or harming other people,” she removes herself completely. Desiree, a Christian, has been estranged from the family for roughly two years because she refuses to toe their far-left activist line. (Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)
In return, her parents filed a small-claims lawsuit against Desiree in the Minnesota Conciliation Court, demanding that she repay $1,076.41 plus court costs. They claim the money they gave Desiree to escape an abusive relationship was a “loan.” The court document details the alleged agreement from May 2025 and a supposed collection attempt in December 2025.
MCRO_70-CO-26-6329_Statement of Claim_2026-04-24_20260508092853 by Mary Rooke
The timeline makes this feel like revenge for her public statements. Her parents’ lawsuit landed just days after Desiree’s public condemnation. Despite the family’s two-year estrangement, Desiree claims that the money was always treated as a monetary gift, and no serious collection efforts were made until she came out against the attacks.
The Ostroushkos are simultaneously defending criminal charges, fundraising for their own legal defense, and now dragging their daughter into court. The political divide in this country has been growing for decades. However, it seems to be way more popular on the left to cut off or attack family members who don’t subscribe to their political or social ideals.
A UC Irvine/YouGov survey from April 2025 found that 37 percent of Americans have experienced at least one “political breakup,” like losing a friend, family member, coworker, or romantic partner over politics. Among those who had a breakup, Democrats were far more likely to initiate it, 66 percent admitting that they ended the relationship, compared to 27 percent of Republicans who said the same.
Desiree started a fundraiser to help fight her parents’ lawsuit.
“I’ve always tried to live my life with faith, kindness, and independence, trusting that even in hard seasons, God has a plan greater than what I can see. Right now, I’m walking through one of the most difficult chapters of my life involving my own family. For a long time, I stayed quiet and carried the emotional weight on my own. I believed that if I just kept pushing forward, it would only affect me. But when I realized the situation was beginning to impact others around me, I knew I had to find the strength to take a stand and speak up,” she wrote in the fundraiser’s description. (ROOKE: Far-Left Candidate Thinks She Fooled Conservative Candidate. She Really Just Proved Democrats Love Violence)
“Since doing that, things have escalated. I am now facing legal action from my own family based on things that are not true. What has been the hardest is not just the legal burden, but the emotional and mental toll. It is the heartbreak of being hurt and misunderstood by the people you never expected it from,” she added.
The fundraiser already surpassed its goal, as of late Friday morning.
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