The Department of Justice unsealed an indictment charging 30 more people involved in the storming of Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, bringing the total number of defendants to 39. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that federal agents had already arrested 25 of them, with more arrests expected throughout the day.
The new charges stem from the January incident in which anti-ICE protesters stormed the church, where one of the pastors also worked for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The indictment accuses all 39 people of violating two civil rights laws. The original nine defendants in the case have all pleaded not guilty.
Bondi revealed the charges in a post on X and followed with a direct warning:
"YOU CANNOT ATTACK A HOUSE OF WORSHIP. If you do so, you cannot hide from us — we will find you, arrest you, and prosecute you."
The DOJ has signaled it is not done. Following the initial arrests, the department revealed it was examining potential violations of both the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act of 1994 and the so-called "KKK Act," a Reconstruction-era civil rights statute designed to combat organized intimidation.
Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, pointed out the irony of these legal instruments being turned on left-wing activists. Under the previous administration, these same tools were wielded almost exclusively against one side of the political spectrum, Breitbart reports.
"The Biden DOJ used the Klan Act conspiracy charges tacked onto the FACE Act in the case of protests outside abortion clinics to bring much longer sentences."
The numbers bear that out. Since the FACE Act's inception, 97 percent of cases have been brought against pro-life advocates. Peaceful grandmothers praying outside abortion clinics faced the full weight of federal prosecution. A mob that invaded a house of worship to terrorize a congregation? Under the old regime, that apparently didn't merit the same urgency.
Dhillon also raised questions that suggest the investigation is widening beyond the people who physically entered the church:
"So, there are a number of tools available to us. Who funded this? What other crimes may have occurred? Was there a use of the wires or the mail in preparing for this event?"
Those are not idle questions. They are the framework for conspiracy and racketeering investigations. The DOJ appears interested not just in the foot soldiers but in whoever organized, coordinated, and bankrolled the assault.
Among those swept up in the fallout is former CNN host Don Lemon, who was arrested in January and charged with federal civil rights crimes. Lemon recorded a live YouTube video of the protesters storming Cities Church. He has clarified that he was "not part of the group" and was merely "photographing."
Whether a former cable news anchor filming an attack on a church constitutes journalism or participation is a question that will presumably be tested in court. What is not in dispute is that Lemon was there, recording, as a mob violated a protected house of worship.
For years, the left built an entire legal and rhetorical infrastructure around the idea that disrupting access to certain protected spaces constitutes a federal crime. They prosecuted elderly pro-life demonstrators under that theory. They championed the FACE Act as essential to protecting constitutional rights.
Now that infrastructure exists. And it turns out it applies to churches, too.
The people who stormed City's Church did not target a random building. They targeted a congregation in a sanctuary because one of its members worked in immigration enforcement. That is textbook intimidation designed to punish someone for doing a lawful job. It is exactly the kind of conduct that civil rights statutes were written to prevent.
The left spent years insisting these laws were vital. They should welcome their equal application. Somehow, that enthusiasm seems to have cooled.
Bondi put the matter plainly:
"At my direction, federal agents have already arrested 25 of them, with more to come throughout the day."
Thirty charged. Twenty-five arrested. An investigation that is expanding, not contracting. And a DOJ that has made clear it will treat an attack on a church with the same seriousness that was once reserved for pro-life protesters standing on a sidewalk.
The laws haven't changed. The standard has finally been met.