Protesters within the Minneapolis–St. Paul space disrupted a Sunday service at Cities Church this week after discovering on-line claims that one of many church’s pastors additionally serves in a senior position with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Movies and posts circulating on social media present demonstrators chanting and talking out contained in the church because the service was underway.
In accordance with social media posts, the pastor recognized by protesters is David Easterwood, who has been listed in federal information because the Appearing Area Workplace Director for Enforcement and Removing Operations within the Saint Paul Workplace of ICE. Protesters say they entered the church and interrupted the service to name consideration to what they describe as an unacceptable overlap between non secular management and immigration enforcement roles.
Right now, there isn’t any impartial affirmation in main information reviews establishing that the pastor at Cities Church and the federal ICE official are the identical particular person. Some social posts and movies make that declare, however mainstream retailers haven’t verified that identification.
The disruptions come amid intense and ongoing protests in Minneapolis after a federal immigration enforcement surge following the deadly capturing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent earlier this month sparked widespread demonstrations, group grief, and heated debate about federal enforcement ways.
Protesters within the Twin Cities have repeatedly expressed deep considerations in regards to the presence of ICE and federal brokers within the area, saying enforcement has created concern and rigidity of their group. In the meantime, native advocacy and authorized teams, together with the ACLU and others, have emphasised the significance of lawful protest.
Whereas protection of Sunday’s protests at Cities Church has remained alarmingly absent from mainstream media, impartial journalists, together with former CNN reporter Don Lemon, have offered reside protection from the positioning of the protests, together with interviews with Pastor Jonathan Parnell and churchgoers.
In the meantime, right-leaning social media posts have included disparaging remarks about each Lemon and the anti-ICE protestors, whereas additionally warning that actions perceived as interfering with non secular companies might immediate authorized scrutiny beneath federal statutes that shield locations of worship. The 1994 Freedom of Entry to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act makes it a federal crime to make use of power or threats to intervene with non secular worship and gatherings.
