By Jack Brook and Sarah RazaThe Related Press
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota activist who was charged for her position in an anti-immigration enforcement protest at a church launched her personal video of her arrest Jan. 23 after the White Home posted a manipulated picture on-line.
The White Home on Jan. 22 posted an image on its X web page of civil rights legal professional Nekima Levy Armstrong crying along with her fingers behind her again as she was escorted by a blurred individual carrying a badge. The photograph was captioned in all caps: “Arrested far-left agitator Nekima Levy Armstrong for orchestrating church riots in Minnesota.”
A photograph posted by Homeland Safety secretary Kristi Noem’s account confirmed the identical picture with Levy Armstrong carrying a impartial expression.
Levy Armstrong, who was arrested with a minimum of two others Jan. 22 for an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a church the place an ICE official additionally serves as a pastor, launched her personal video. Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen, a St. Paul college board member who was additionally arrested in connection to the protest, have been each launched Jan. 23, in keeping with a submit by Levy Armstrong’s group, the Racial Justice Community. Their attorneys declined to remark.
The video shot by Levy Armstrong’s husband, Marques Armstrong, reveals a number of federal brokers approaching to arrest her.
“I’m asking you to please deal with me with dignity and respect,” she mentioned to the brokers.
“We have now to place you in handcuffs,” one agent mentioned, whereas one other held up a telephone and appeared to report a video.
“Why are you recording?” Levy Armstrong requested. “I might ask that you simply not report.”
“It’s not going to be on Twitter,” the agent filming mentioned. “It’s not going to be on something like that.”
“We don’t wish to create a false narrative,” the agent mentioned.
At no level within the greater than seven-minute video – which reveals Levy Armstrong being handcuffed and led right into a authorities automobile – did Levy Armstrong seem to cry. As a substitute, she talked with brokers about her arrest.
“You realize that this can be a important abuse of energy,” she mentioned. “As a result of I refuse to be silent within the face of brutality from ICE.”
“I’m not in right here to get in a political debate,” the agent filming mentioned.
In an audio message that Levy Armstrong’s spokesperson shared with The Related Press, Levy Armstrong mentioned the video of her arrest exposes that the Trump administration had used AI to control photographs of her arrest.
“We’re being politically persecuted for talking out towards authoritarianism, fascism and the tyranny of the Trump administration,” mentioned Levy Armstrong, who recorded the message the morning of Jan. 23 throughout a name along with her husband from jail.
The Division of Homeland Safety didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
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Related Press reporters Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis and Tiffany Stanley in Washington, D.C., contributed.
