Rev. Nekima Levy Armstrong Leads "ICE OUT" Church Protest Of Pastor and ICE Agent David Easterwood

Protesters disrupted church service at Cities Church in Saint Paul this morning where one of the pastors, David Easterwood, who did not appear to be at church at the time of the action, is the acting director of the St. Paul Field Office for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ABC News reported that that ICE field office David is in charge of has been overseeing operations "that have involved violent tactics and illegal arrests."

ABC News also reported that Easterwood defended ICE's tactics in Minnesota, including spraying protesters with chemical irritants and use of flash-bang grenades, in a January 5th court filing.

“Agitators aren’t just targeting our officers. Now they’re targeting churches, too,” the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency stated. “They’re going from hotel to hotel, church to church, hunting for federal law enforcement who are risking their lives to protect Americans.”

According to The Independent, protester and reverend Nekima Levy Armstrong told journalist Don Lemmon before entering the church: “This will not stand, they cannot pretend to be a house of God, while harboring someone who is commanding ICE agents to terrorize our communities.”

While the acting pastor of morning of the protest shouted to the protesters "Shame on you!" protesters focused their message on the hypocrisy of having a pastor preach the word of God while people were under attack in their community.

The lead protestor shouted from a megaphone: "Someone who claims to worship God; teaching people in this church about God; is out there overseeing ICE agents. Think about what we have experienced. The murder of Renee Good at the hand of ICE. A Venezuelan national shot by ICE. A 6-month old baby who almost died as a result of ICE unleashing military grade weapons on our community. How dare you claim to be a pastor of God and you are involved in evil in our community."

Protesters filling the congregation demanded: "ICE OUT."

ABC News reported that U.S. Department of Justice says it is investigating the protesters at the church. U.S. Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said her agency is investigating federal civil rights violations “by these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshippers.” She continued in social media: “A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws!”

Nekima Levy Armstrong, a reverend, participant of the protest, and leader of the local grassroots civil rights organization Racial Justice Network, responded to the investigation by calling it a sham and distraction from the invasive actions the federal government is taking in Minnesota.

She said: “When you think about the federal government unleashing barbaric ICE agents upon our community and all the harm that they have caused, to have someone serving as a pastor who oversees these ICE agents, is almost unfathomable to me. If people are more concerned about someone coming to a church on a Sunday and disrupting business as usual than they are about the atrocities that we are experiencing in our community, then they need to check their theology and the need to check their hearts.”

ABC News reported that Black Lives Matter Minnesota co-founder Monique Cullars-Doty also weighed in, saying: “If you got a head — a leader in a church — that is leading and orchestrating ICE raids, my God, what has the world come to? We can't sit back idly and watch people go and be led astray.”