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

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



 
 
 
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