The Department of Justice has opened a serious investigation after a band of agitators crashed a Sunday service at Cities Church in St. Paul, marching into a house of worship to shout political slogans and shame congregants. This isn’t peaceful protest — it’s a targeted assault on religious liberty and the sanctity of worship, and federal prosecutors say they are looking at potential violations of the FACE Act.
Footage livestreamed during the disruption shows organizers from local activist groups chanting “ICE out” and invoking the name of Renee Good, the woman whose death during an ICE operation sparked the renewed unrest. The mob singled out a pastor they claim also works with ICE, using the church as a political stage rather than respecting it as sacred ground — a brazen escalation that should alarm every American who values freedom of religion.
Justice Department officials, including leaders in the Civil Rights Division, have publicly signaled that desecrating a house of worship and interrupting services crosses a bright legal line, and they vowed to pursue accountability. Conservatives who care about both faith and order welcomed that response; we cannot allow violent intimidation and hostage-taking of religious spaces under the cover of “protest.”
At the same time, the Pentagon has placed roughly 1,500 soldiers on prepare-to-deploy orders from the Army’s 11th Airborne Division as a contingency amid the escalating tensions in Minneapolis and St. Paul. This is prudent planning, not theatrical muscle-flexing — when federal personnel and the rule of law are under attack, the commander in chief must be able to protect citizens and government workers.
Local leaders in Minneapolis and St. Paul predictably pushed back, casting federal readiness as intimidation rather than a response to real threats against law-abiding Americans and federal officers. That reflexive resistance from city hall has consequences; when city and state officials refuse to back law enforcement, chaos fills the vacuum and ordinary citizens pay the price.
Let’s be clear: defending the right to worship without political harassment is not a partisan position, it’s a core American principle. The DOJ is right to investigate and the federal government must stand firm against mobs that target churches and federal agents alike, while holding local officials accountable for doing their jobs and preserving public safety.
Hardworking Americans deserve leaders who will protect churches, protect officers who carry out lawful operations, and punish those who use politicized street theater to intimidate communities. If the administration follows through and enforces the law, it will send a clear message: America will not tolerate lawlessness, and our religious freedoms will not be trampled by opportunistic agitators.
