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Righteous 39: 30 more people indicted over anti-ICE protest at Cities Church

Updated: Mar 19

Supporters greeted the newly indicted community members after their initial hearing at Federal Courthouse in St. Paul on Feb. 27.
Supporters greeted the newly indicted community members after their initial hearing at Federal Courthouse in St. Paul on Feb. 27.

Federal prosecutors have charged 30 additional people in connection with a January protest inside Cities Church in St. Paul, during the height of Operation Metro Surge, bringing the total number of defendants in the case to 39.


The new charges were announced Friday Feb. 27  by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and stem from the January 18 protest where demonstrators gathered at Cities Church to call attention to Pastor David Easterwood, who also serves as acting director of ICE’s St. Paul field office.


Nine people were previously indicted in the case, including independent journalists Georgia Fort and Don Lemon and Minneapolis civil rights attorney and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong. Those defendants have pleaded not guilty.


Drew Edwards, an English teacher, speaks to supporters outside the Federal Courthouse in St. Paul on Friday, Feb. 27. Credit: Clint Combs / MSR
Drew Edwards, an English teacher, speaks to supporters outside the Federal Courthouse in St. Paul on Friday, Feb. 27. Credit: Clint Combs / MSR

Among the newly charged is Andrew Edwards, a Minneapolis educator. Federal agents showed up at his north Minneapolis home at 5 a.m. Here’s how he described his arrest.


“I heard some things outside of my window, so I approached the window, and I seen the officer's gun, and a brother told me, ‘Go to the door.’ And so I approached the door, and the brother kicked the door open and broke down the door. 
When they removed me from the house, the brother started to groping me and grabbed me, and I had no drawers on, and they took me outside, and the brother started to pull out his TASER like he was about to tase me.”

Drew said the harassment continued as he was shoved into a truck and kept in a holding cell until he was forced to appear in federal court nearly eight hours later in only his boxers. 


Other defendants include Black Lives Matter Minnesota co-founder Monique Cullars Doty, Satara Strong-Allen, Brixton Hughes (independent journalist,) Cheryl Persigehl, Amelia Hansa, Jarmel Perry, Rachel Golioski, Ariel Hauptman and Danielle Matthias.


The defendants are accused of violating federal civil rights laws protecting access to places of worship, including conspiracy against the right to religious freedom and interfering with the exercise of religious freedom. The charges are brought under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which also applies to places of worship



Here's a full list of the Righteous 39:


  1. Amelia Cristin Hansa

  2. Andrew Edwards

  3. Ariel Hauptman

  4. Aziza Aboud

  5. Catie Michaelson

  6. Charles Swenson

  7. Chauntyll Allen

  8. Cheryl Persigehl

  9. Danielle Matthias

  10. David Okar

  11. Don Lemon

  12. Emmar Pineda-Moreno

  13. Eric Michaelson

  14. Ezra Blumenfeld

  15. Georgia Fort

  16. Heather Lewis

  17. Ian Austin

  18. Jamael Lundy

  19. Jarmel Perry

  20. Jerome Richardson

  21. John Vergin

  22. Katherine Shaw

  23. Kelly Ann Carey

  24. Krista Hogan

  25. Lee Tuggle

  26. Mark Weinfurter

  27. Max Adamson

  28. Michael Beute

  29. Monique Cullars-Doty

  30. Nekima Levy Armstron

  31. Rachel Goligoski

  32. Robyn Swenson

  33. Satara Strong Allen

  34. Shane Bollman

  35. Spencer Rodriguez-Bocanegra

  36. Thomas Tier

  37. Tiffany Dunlap

  38. Trahern Crews

  39. William Kelly


 
 
 

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