The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division says it’s “investigating the potential violations of the federal FACE Act by these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshippers.” Southern Baptist Convention leaders are also condemning the protest, with the president of the SBC’s North American Mission Board pledging to “provide protection” for the church “if elected officials won’t contain lawlessness.”

On Sunday (Jan. 18), an unplanned liturgy of “ICE out!” and “Justice for Renee Good!” erupted in the sanctuary of a Southern Baptist church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Activists marched into the building to protest the fact that one of the congregation’s pastors is the acting director of the St. Paul ICE field office.

David Easterwood, who is one of the pastors listed on the website of Cities Church in St. Paul, appeared on C-SPAN in October as acting director for the St. Paul ICE field office. Speaking during a press conference with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Easterwood talked about being “proud” of leading his ICE team. Last week, Easterwood made news for defending ICE actions in a free speech lawsuit by several Minnesota residents who were arrested while attempting to observe ICE actions. On Friday, a federal judge ordered limits on ICE, declaring they cannot arrest or detain “persons who are engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity.”

After someone made the connection between ICE’s Easterwood and the church where he serves on staff, the Racial Justice Network, Black Lives Matter Minnesota, and Black Lives Matter Twin Cities organized an “ICE Out” protest at the church on Sunday. In a livestream of the protest, people can be heard shouting, “Justice for Renee Good!” “Hands up, don’t shoot,” and “ICE out!” as lead pastor Jonathan Parnell stands at the pulpit and congregants sit in the pews. A couple of protesters blew whistles, which have been used in numerous cities in recent months to warn about the presence of ICE.

As the chants continued, some members of the church silently walked out of the sanctuary while others engaged in conversations with protesters. After a few moments, Parnell started pointing at a protester and shouting, “Shame on you! Shame on you! This is a house of God!” As the chants continued, Parnell remained at the pulpit as a couple of other individuals from the church engaged him in a conversation. Later, he joined some of his members in mingling in the crowd and speaking with protesters.

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