The freedom of worship is a cornerstone value of our Republic, enshrined in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Last Sunday, a group of anti-ICE agitators violated this most sacred right when they stormed into Cities Church in St. Paul, Minn., during church services to protest the pastor’s supposed ties to ICE. This mob of leftist bigots included fired CNN anchor Don Lemon, who stunningly claimed they (somehow) had the First Amendment right to target, trespass into, terrify and disrupt a church service – even based upon the race and religion of the congregants. Non-attorney Lemon has refused to back down – and in fact, has doubled down – on his demonstrably wrong and dangerous legal analysis. For his outrageous criminal behavior and total lack of remorse, Lemon must face legal accountability – including federal felony charges under the FACE Act and Ku Klux Klan Act. In short, Lemon must go to federal prison – and for years.
In 1994, Democrats had the trifecta: control of the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Bill and Hillary Clinton White House. Leftist Sen. Ted Kennedy, abortion-industry monopolist Planned Parenthood’s Senate champion, prioritized protecting abortion clinics from pro-life Christian protesters. (Protesters and public scrutiny are bad for the business of mass-killing unborn children.) Kennedy led the charge in passing the Freedom of Access to Clinical Entrances (FACE) Act, 18 U.S.C. § 248. This law criminalizes the use of intimidation or force to impede individuals from entering or operating in abortion clinics. But in order to win the necessary Senate Republican support to overcome a likely legislative filibuster, the compromise statute also prohibits such acts with respect to any house of worship. First-time FACE Act offenders, who cause no injury, generally face federal misdemeanor charges and up to one year in federal prison. Repeat offenders or offenders who make threats, use force or cause injury generally face federal felony charges and years in federal prison.
The Biden Justice Department did not hesitate to enforce the FACE Act against abortion-clinic protesters; in fact, the Biden DOJ enforced the FACE Act mercilessly. This included coupling FACE Act charges with federal conspiracy charges under the Ku Klux Klan Act (18 U.S.C. § 241) — passed after the Civil War to punish individuals who conspire to violate the civil rights of others. The Biden DOJ threw the book at and imprisoned — for years — elderly Christians, young pro-life Black mothers and the like. Meanwhile, the Biden DOJ gave amnesty to left-wing radicals who attacked White churches, synagogues and pro-life pregnancy centers — but no doubt not Black churches or mosques.
For instance, the Biden DOJ imprisoned for two years Paulette Harlow – at age 75 – with FACE Act and Klan Act charges after she protested outside an abortion clinic. The Biden DOJ had a young Black mother, Bevelyn Williams, thrown in prison for 41 months for FACE Act and Klan Act violations for protesting at a Manhattan abortion clinic.
Lemon and his conspirators’ church-crashing last Sunday constituted textbook violations of the FACE Act and Klan Act. Cities Church worshippers were inside during a religious service. All of a sudden, a group of anti-ICE agitators barged in and began yelling at the churchgoers. The worshipers included small children, who were understandably frightened by the events. Just last year, a trans-terrorist busted into the Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis, murdered two children, and injured dozens more. As such, the fear Lemon and his fellow modern-day klansmen would become violent was eminently reasonable. And Lemon was right in the middle of the mob, approaching parishioners – and even the pastor on the pulpit during the church service – with his microphone and interrogating them. One man told Lemon the protesters had no right to come into the church and begin yelling. Lemon claimed that the First Amendment allows such misconduct – but he is plainly and dangerously wrong.
The First Amendment, among other things, generally prohibits Congress from unlawfully restricting free speech or religious expression. The protesters’ actions are not protected by the First Amendment or any other provision of law. This church is private property. Worshipers were asserting their own First Amendment right to exercise their religion freely by worshipping. If the First Amendment protected actions like those of the protesters, then people could barge into any religious service and begin shouting to protest anything. The pro-Hamas crowd, for instance, could storm synagogues and rail against the "genocide" in Gaza. Individuals opposed to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani could crash a service at a mosque to rail against his socialist policies. White men could crash a Black church service to protest DEI policies. The examples of the chaos that would be permissible under non-attorney Lemon’s absurd legal theory are endless.
Fortunately for decent society, Lemon’s legal theory is not the law. Neither the Supreme Court nor any court has ever sanctioned protesters’ storming into a religious service to engage in such disruptive misconduct. The behavior of these agitators interfered with the First Amendment rights of the worshippers, but Lemon appears to have no regard for these First Amendment rights. Neither does Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a radical leftist disgrace. When asked about the storming of the church, Ellison responded that "[n]one of us are immune from the voice of the public." This absurd statement crumbles upon the slightest scrutiny. Would Ellison, a Muslim, support people who charged into a mosque service yelling that all Muslims should be deported? Of course not. He would scream Islamophobia and charge the trespassers.
PASTORS WARN OF 'CHILLING EFFECT' AFTER ANTI-ICE AGITATORS STORM MINNESOTA CHURCH SERVICE
Lemon also claimed that he was merely covering the rally as a journalist. Even if true, several individuals made the same argument concerning the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. These people were in the Capitol and engaged in no violence. The Biden Justice Department, however, still charged them with trespassing. Journalists are subject to trespassing laws just like everyone else; otherwise, journalists could climb over fences and enter one’s yard without permission. Journalists could even enter individuals’ homes under this absurd theory. Lemon also asserted that he had no idea that the protesters, who are affiliated with Black Lives Matter, were going to the church until they arrived.
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But, as the New York Post reported, "Don Lemon admitted he was embedded with anti-ICE agitators in Minneapolis and knew of their plans before they burst into a St. Paul church during Sunday services — despite claiming he was there as a journalist and had no advance knowledge of what was going down."
Lemon and his co-conspirators clearly violated the federal FACE Act. And these thugs face another potential charge under the modern-day version of the Ku Klux Klan Act. Here, Lemon and his fellow modern-day klansmen conspired to deprive the pastor and his parishioners of the right to worship by storming their church. The law also provides for potential civil liability as to state officials who fail to act to stop such unlawful conduct. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, two modern-day confederates, have appeared to take no real steps to hold these anarchists accountable; indeed, Ellison appeared to offer a statement of defense for their despicable conduct.
Minnesota has descended into lawlessness. Billions of taxpayer dollars are squandered because of rampant fraud, mostly concerning the Somali community. Because of deranged anti-ICE rhetoric from inept confederate-like leaders Walz, Ellison and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (i.e., calling the federal government’s presence an invasion and claiming that Minnesota is at war with the federal government), modern-day klansmen in Minnesota, like Lemon, have good reason to think that it is open season on federal law enforcement–because state authorities will do nothing about violence directed against ICE and even citizens supposedly associated with ICE. Those who stormed the church – especially Lemon – must receive indictments to punish them and send a crystal clear message to every other modern-day klansmen who is contemplating a similar act. We cannot tolerate this seditious and bigoted misconduct, and any perpetrator like Lemon must spend a long time in federal prison.
