The service was already underway when a group of protesters began chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good” from the pews, their slogans echoing off the sanctuary walls as stunned congregants turned toward the noise.
A Sunday Service Turned Flashpoint
According to video shared by Black Lives Matter Minnesota and reporting from Fox News at https://www.foxnews.com/us/anti-ice-agitators-disrupt-minnesota-church-shout-worshippers-sunday-service, several dozen anti-ICE protesters entered Cities Church in Minneapolis during a recent Sunday service and began shouting at worshippers.
The protesters accused church leaders of staying silent about federal immigration enforcement and the fatal shooting of a local resident, Renee Good, by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. They also focused on one pastor in particular, whom they claim holds a leadership role in the local ICE field office.
Federal officials have since said they are investigating the incident inside the church. At the same time, protests linked to Good’s death have continued in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area.
What Happened Inside Cities Church
The Fox News report describes protesters entering the sanctuary of Cities Church during a regular Sunday service. Video posted by Black Lives Matter Minnesota, cited in that report, shows demonstrators chanting and addressing congregants directly.
One person is heard shouting, “Where are your people? Why are you not…. fighting for humanity,” as others join in with chants of “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good” in front of worshippers who appear seated and quiet in the footage.
Dr. Joe Rigney, identified by Fox News as a former pastor at Cities Church, said the congregation had not taken an institutional position on immigration enforcement and that the church does not see itself as a political actor.
“It’s remarkable to see that sort of thing in America,” Rigney told the Fox News program “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” describing the protesters as having “loud, angry, vile” rhetoric. “To watch people disrupt, frighten children, harass churchgoers who are simply trying to worship God.”
Rigney said congregants had expected a normal Sunday service. “Instead of going to a normal Sunday, they have loud, angry, vile people screaming and chanting at them,” he said.
The Fox News account does not mention any injuries or arrests inside the church. It also does not indicate that protesters used physical force to remove people or block exits, focusing instead on shouting, chanting, and verbal confrontation.
A Protest Emerging From A Fatal ICE Shooting
The disruption in the church did not happen in isolation. It came after the death of Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent during an enforcement operation in Minnesota.
The Trump administration has said that Good was attempting to ram an ICE agent with her vehicle when the agent opened fire, according to the Fox News report. That is the official account at this stage. Protesters and critics of ICE have questioned that description of events and have accused the agency of using violent tactics and carrying out illegal arrests in the region.
Those wider concerns are central to the confrontation at Cities Church. Protesters argue that local institutions, including churches, should publicly denounce ICE operations and support efforts to limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
In response, acting ICE leadership has publicly defended the agency’s focus on people they describe as “criminal illegal aliens” and has outlined what they call significant threats to agents in the field. Fox News linked to an interview with the acting ICE director that framed the agency’s work as lawful and necessary.
Allegations About A Pastor And An ICE Field Office
At the core of the church protest is a specific allegation. Demonstrators say that one of Cities Church’s pastors, David Easterwood, is also the head of the local ICE field office that oversees operations in Minnesota, including those tied to Good’s death.
The Fox News article reports these claims as allegations from protesters. It notes that Easterwood was present in the church at the time of the disruption. The piece does not include comment from Easterwood, ICE, or Cities Church responding directly to the claim about his alleged role within ICE, nor does it provide independent documentation confirming his employment or title.
That leaves a significant factual gap. The protesters’ central claim about Easterwood’s dual role is driving their decision to confront him at his church. Yet, based on the Fox News report alone, there is no publicly cited personnel record or official statement that verifies or refutes his position within ICE.
The U.S. Department of Justice is quoted in the Fox News story as saying it is investigating the incident at the church. The Department has not, in that report, specified whether it is examining the protesters’ alleged misconduct, the underlying ICE shooting of Good, or both.
Federal Civil-Rights Scrutiny And Possible Legal Tools
Senior federal officials are publicly linking the church disruption to civil-rights protections for religious worship. Fox News reports that Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X that she had spoken to the pastor whose church was targeted and that “attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law.”
According to the same report, Bondi added, “If state leaders refuse to act responsibly to prevent lawlessness, this Department of Justice will remain mobilized to prosecute federal crimes and ensure that the rule of law prevails.”
Harmeet Dhillon, identified as Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, is also quoted from X as calling the disruption a “heinous act” and stating that it is receiving “the highest level of attention” inside the Department. “@AGPamBondi & I are working around the clock, because no right in our Constitution is more sacred than the freedom to assemble & pray to God,” Dhillon wrote, according to Fox News.
Federal law gives the Justice Department specific tools to respond if it concludes that protesters illegally interfered with religious worship. One key statute, 18 U.S.C. 247, makes it a federal crime to “intentionally obstruct, by force or threat of force, any person in the enjoyment of that person’s free exercise of religious beliefs” at a place of worship. The text of that law is available through Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute at https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/247.
In past cases, the Justice Department has used this and related statutes in situations that involve physical threats, violence, or significant interference with access to religious services. The Fox News report does not indicate whether prosecutors believe the conduct inside Cities Church meets that threshold, only that the incident is under review.
State Officials Walk A Narrow Line
The church protest has also drawn in state and local leaders who are already under scrutiny for how they have handled ICE-related demonstrations more broadly.
A spokesperson for Minnesota Governor Tim Walz told Fox News that the governor does not support the interruption of church services, even as he defends the right to protest. “The Governor has repeatedly and unequivocally urged protesters to do so peacefully,” the spokesperson said. “While people have a right to speak out, he in no way supports interrupting a place of worship.”
Rigney, the former pastor, argued that Walz and other officials have not gone far enough in condemning confrontations that target law enforcement personnel and their families away from work.
“And yet the governor of Minnesota has been encouraging them to urgently and loudly protest these actions,” Rigney told Fox News, referring to ICE operations. “And it’s not just simply disputing law enforcement actions, it’s following law enforcement agents to their places of worship, harassing their families, scaring their children, anyone that’s associated with them, demanding that they denounce them.” He called those tactics “terrible” and said it was “shameful” that the governor’s response was, in his view, too mild.
The Fox report also references criticism from the White House, which has accused Governor Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey of contributing to “chaos” after anti-ICE demonstrators entered the church. Those statements, like the protesters’ allegations, underscore how quickly a local dispute over federal enforcement can move into national political territory.
Outside the church, anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis have included street demonstrations and, according to Fox News, a sit-in at a Target store in nearby St. Paul. Protesters there demanded that the retailer stop allowing ICE to use its parking lot for operations. The article does not detail Target’s response.
What Remains Unresolved
Several facts in this story are clearly established by video and official statements. Protesters entered Cities Church during a service and loudly confronted congregants. They linked their action to the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent. Senior Justice Department officials say they are investigating what happened in the church and have publicly framed it as a possible civil-rights issue involving the freedom to worship.
Other core claims remain unverified in the public record as presented in the Fox News report. Central among them is the protesters’ assertion that Pastor David Easterwood also runs the local ICE field office. The report does not provide documentary evidence on that point or a response from Easterwood or ICE, even though this allegation is what led demonstrators to bring their protest into a place of worship.
Key questions also remain about the fatal ICE shooting that sparked these protests. Federal officials say Good attempted to ram an agent with a vehicle. Protesters dispute ICE tactics and accuse the agency of broader abuses. The Justice Department has not publicly released investigative findings about the shooting in the account provided, nor specified how its review of the church incident relates to its examination of the underlying use of force.
Until investigators address those gaps on the record, the confrontation at Cities Church sits at the intersection of protest rights, religious freedom, and contested law enforcement power, with each side claiming that the other has crossed a legal and moral line that the public has not yet fully seen mapped out in official documents.
