What happened in St. Paul last weekend was not a protest — it was an assault on worship. A crowd of anti-ICE activists marched into Cities Church during service, disrupted congregants and filmed the chaos live, sparking an immediate federal response as the Justice Department opened an investigation into possible violations of federal law. This wasn’t a righteous act of conscience; it was a calculated stunt that trampled on religious liberty and the quiet of Sunday worship.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon did what leaders in Washington too often refuse to do: she called out the mob and put their enablers on notice. Dhillon warned publicly that houses of worship are protected spaces and signaled the Civil Rights Division was looking at charges under statutes designed to prevent this very kind of intimidation. In an era when the left treats performative outrage as a career path, it’s refreshing to see a Justice Department official willing to use the full force of the law to defend ordinary Americans.
Federal authorities have already moved — three alleged organizers were arrested and face serious charges, and prosecutors are combing through footage and communications to identify others responsible. The arrests show that, when given the political will, the federal government can protect religious institutions from harassment and political theater. Conservative Americans should cheer a DOJ that chooses to enforce the law instead of looking the other way when churches are targeted.
Not everyone in the swamp agrees with that enforcement, of course; a magistrate judge reportedly refused a bid to charge Don Lemon, saying there wasn’t probable cause to support a misdemeanor complaint against him. Lemon insists he was there as a journalist, and his lawyers are using First Amendment claims to shield him from accountability — claims that deserve careful scrutiny but not automatic immunity for behavior that appears coordinated with agitators. The question now is straightforward: will the law be applied evenly, or will high-profile media figures get a pass while ordinary Americans are punished?
Dhillon has made clear the Civil Rights Division isn’t stopping at press statements; she’s talking about using both the FACE Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act where appropriate, and she’s pledging to go after organizers, funders and anyone who crossed state lines to participate. That’s the kind of muscular, no-nonsense approach conservatives have been demanding for years — treat political violence and intimidation the way you would any other coordinated criminal enterprise. If the DOJ follows through, those who think the left’s stunts have no consequences will discover the rule of law still matters.
This episode exposes the moral rot of coastal media elites who sanctimoniously parade as defenders of speech while equipping mobs to violate other people’s freedoms. Don Lemon and his fellow travelers can posture about journalistic immunity, but hardworking Americans see through the act: disrupting worship is not journalism, it is intimidation. The media should be held to the same standard as everyone else — no special treatment, no exemptions for virtue-signaling celebrities.
Patriots in every town should take notice: our religious liberty is not negotiable and our courts must not become a refuge for political thuggery. Encourage your local leaders to support prosecutions when federal law is violated, demand accountability from blue-state prosecutors who look the other way, and stand with the churches whose doors should remain open for worship, not open season for radical activists.
