A group of anti-ICE agitators stormed Cities Church in St. Paul during a Sunday worship service on January 18, 2026, marching to the pulpit, shouting slogans and berating parishioners — an assault on a house of worship that frightened families and children. The church’s lead pastor Jonathan Parnell called the disruption “shameful” and unlawful, and said his congregation was simply there to worship Jesus when the intruders invaded their sanctuary.
Fox News’ Harris Faulkner rightly labeled these people “mobsters” on Outnumbered, and the clip laid bare what conservative Americans have been warning about for years: when you throw political rage into the streets you get lawlessness, not reform. Media elites who cheer these stunts are not journalists doing their jobs; they are activists who weaponize suffering into spectacle while pretending to be neutral observers.
Religious leaders across the spectrum condemned the intrusion, and the Department of Justice has opened an inquiry into whether the protesters violated federal protections for houses of worship under the FACE Act. This is not a debate about free speech; it is about whether our institutions — especially churches — remain safe from intimidation and mob tactics.
Let’s call it what it is: a deliberate attempt to intimidate Christians and to shut down worship by screaming political slogans at kids and families. The protesters’ theatrics are a far cry from legitimate civic protest and much closer to the disorder that comes when elites refuse to respect basic decency and law. The church’s own response stressed the real harm inflicted on worshippers and asked leaders at every level to protect religious freedom.
Meanwhile, local officials have not helped calm the waters; Minneapolis leadership’s antagonistic rhetoric toward federal law enforcement has been fuel on the fire, not water on the flames. When city leaders publicly lash out at ICE and effectively invite confrontation, they shoulder responsibility for the tensions their words help create. The contrast between sanctuaries of worship and streets turned into political battlegrounds could not be starker.
This moment demands a clear response from Washington: churches must be protected and those who invade and disrupt religious services should face the full measure of the law. The federal inquiry is a necessary step to deter future lawlessness and to make sure that violent theatrics do not become the default tool of the radical left.
Hardworking Americans who value faith, order, and the rule of law should stand with Cities Church and with anyone who refuses to let political mobs turn Sunday morning into chaos. We will not be bullied out of our sanctuaries by people who masquerade as moral crusaders while trampling the very freedoms they claim to defend. Fox’s Faulkner said it plainly — these were mobsters — and Washington should act like it.
