President Donald Trump’s administration has confirmed that the U.S. Justice Department is investigating Sunday’s anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protest that involved the storming of a Christian church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Officials have suggested that Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, could face investigation for potentially helping incite the anti-ICE riot.
Fox News reported that anti-ICE protesters stormed Cities Church in St. Paul during a worship service on Sunday over claims that one of the church’s pastors was linked to ICE. Following the incident, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi warned that “attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law.”
During an interview on Fox News, Alina Habba, a senior Justice Department adviser, explained that the protesters involved in Sunday’s storming of the Minnesota church and state and local leaders could all face an investigation into potential violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which prohibits individuals from interfering, obstructing, or intimidating people at places of worship.
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Asked whether the Justice Department’s probe is investigating the protesters or officials like Walz and Frey, Habba said, “That’s everybody. The FACE Act is a long-standing federal statute that prohibits force, threats, obstruction, any kind of interference with a religious place of worship, and it carries criminal penalties and violations.”
“The Department of Justice will come down hard,” Habba added. Our civil rights division will come down hard on anybody who tries to impede or intimidate somebody in a place of worship or a police officer, an ICE officer. It’s just not going to happen in this administration.”
In a Monday statement on X, formerly Twitter, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the “heinous act” that occurred at the church in Minnesota on Sunday is “receiving the highest level of attention” from the Justice Department.
“@AGPamBondi & I are working around the clock, because no right in our Constitution is more sacred than the freedom to assemble & pray to God,” Dhillon wrote.
In addition to the comments made by top Justice Department officials, the White House also addressed the incident on Monday.
“There is no low these radical leftists won’t stoop to,” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, told Fox News. “Jacob Frey and Tim Walz have whipped these rioters into a frenzy and turned them loose to wreak havoc on Minneapolis.”
Jackson added, “Frey and Walz should be ashamed for inciting such chaos, but the Trump Administration will continue enforcing the law.”