The former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested late Thursday night on charges that he violated federal law during a protest at a church in St. Paul, Minn., multiple people familiar with the matter said, in a case rejected last week by a magistrate judge.
Mr. Lemon has said he was simply reporting as a journalist when he entered the Cities Church on Jan. 18 to observe a demonstration against the immigration crackdown in the area.
The protesters interrupted a service at the church, where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as a pastor, and chanted “ICE out.” Afterward, the Trump administration sought to charge eight people over the episode, including Mr. Lemon, citing a law that protects people seeking to participate in a service in a house of worship.
But the magistrate judge who reviewed the evidence approved charges against only three of the people, rejecting the evidence against Mr. Lemon and the others as insufficient. The Justice Department then petitioned a federal appeals court to force the judge to issue the additional warrants, only to be denied.
Now that he has been arrested, Mr. Lemon is likely to challenge the prosecution’s case by arguing that he was not protesting, but rather covering the event as a journalist.
“Once the protest started in the church, we did an act of journalism, which was report on it and talk to the people involved, including the pastor, members of the church and members of the organization,” Mr. Lemon said in a recent video. “That’s it. That’s called journalism.”
Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Mr. Lemon, has vowed to fight any charges. If the Justice Department continues with “a stunning and troubling effort to silence and punish a journalist for doing his job,” he said in a statement before the arrest, “Don will call out their latest attack on the rule of law and fight any charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.”
Mr. Lemon now works as an independent journalist and has his own YouTube show. He was pushed out of CNN in 2023 after 17 years at the cable network, amid criticism that he made sexist comments about women and aging. Mr. Lemon has been a longtime critic of Mr. Trump dating back to his first term, and frequently calls the president a liar.
Justice Department officials have vowed to prosecute protesters they claim have crossed a line from activity protected by the First Amendment to impeding law enforcement or, in the case of the church protest, violating others’ rights.
For their part, demonstrators who have turned out in force in Minneapolis have asserted that their rights are being violated as they try to speak out against the crackdown.
Tensions remain particularly high in Minneapolis after federal immigration agents fatally shot two protesters there. Renee Good, a mother of three, was behind the wheel of her car this month when an ICE agent fired at close range. Administration officials branded her a terrorist and claimed that she endangered the life of the agent.
In a separate episode, Customs and Border Protection agents on Saturday shot and killed Alex Pretti, an intensive-care nurse. Videos from the scene undercut early claims by administration officials that Mr. Pretti approached the agents, brandishing a weapon.
President Trump suggested on Wednesday that he was willing to “de-escalate” the situation in Minneapolis, without providing details. He replaced the Border Patrol official who has been the public face of the aggressive immigration efforts in Minneapolis, Gregory Bovino, with his border czar, Tom Homan. Mr. Homan has signaled a willingness to reach an agreement with local officials and draw down the thousands of federal agents sent there.
The charges against Mr. Lemon come against the backdrop of turmoil inside the U.S. attorney’s office in Minneapolis. At a tense meeting earlier this week, a number of prosecutors challenged the head of the office about the administration’s decision not to pursue investigations of the shootings by federal agents, according to people familiar with the internal discussions. At least a half dozen prosecutors have resigned, and more departures are expected.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has called on other federal prosecutors’ offices in the Midwest to send temporary reinforcements to help investigate and prosecute cases.
Hamed Aleaziz covers the Department of Homeland Security and immigration policy for The Times.
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