What Part Of ‘What Would Jesus Do’ Involves Being An ICE Agent?
There’s a pastor in St. Paul, Minnesota, who also serves as the director for a local field office for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and a group of Minnesotans staged a protest at the pastor’s church, because — oh, I don’t know —apparently, some people just can’t abide by a Christian faith leader who takes part in what has demonstrably become a violent white nationalist movement, sanctioned by the federal government. (Argue with somebody else. Immigration agents are in the streets spot-checking Black and brown people with accents for proof of citizenship, and the president is outright casting aspersions on entire ethnic groups while making it explicitly clear he only wants white immigrants in the U.S. That’s a white nationalist movement led by the government.)
Also, somehow, Don Lemon found himself in the middle of the controversy — but we’ll circle back to that in a sec.
According to Politico, about three dozen protesters entered the Cities Church — a Southern Baptist church in St. Paul — during Sunday service. Demonstrators chanted “ICE out” and “Renee Good” in support of the woman who was shot and killed by an ICE agent as she attempted to drive away from agents. The church was chosen as a staging ground for the protest because it’s home to David Easterwood, the aforementioned ICE leader and pastor.
Now, naturally, this is the kind of protest that will immediately have people bickering back and forth about the rights and wrongs of what happened at the church on Sunday. After all, people should have the right to worship in peace. On the other hand, what part of “what would Jesus do” is this?
To be clear, the white Christian church has spent the entirety of American history running cover for Klan leaders, murderous police officers, and other assorted white supremacists, so an ICE leader who is also a pastor isn’t exactly a huge story in and of itself. However, right now, federal agents are in the Twin Cities, outnumbering local police. And, again, they’re engaging in racial profiling out in the open while the Trump administration continues to deny it’s happening, even as it also tells immigrants to keep proof of citizenship on their person at all times, indicating that they’re subject to random searches just because they’re immigrants. Meanwhile, agents are claiming to be under attack while consistently being caught attacking protesters without physical provocation, and, in some cases, physically harming entire families who weren’t even protesting.
So, wrong or right, having an ICE director lead your church might just get your church protested.
It’s also worth mentioning that many of the same people who are outraged on behalf of the Christian church — and pretending to be advocates for the rights of churchgoers — are currently leading a charge against the free press, and by extension, free speech, by condemning and threatening legal action against a journalist just for covering the protest.
And that’s where Don Lemon comes in.
From People:
On Sunday, Jan. 18, the independent journalist shared video footage from Cities Church in Minneapolis, during which demonstrators interrupted a service in protest of David Easterwood, a pastor and local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.
“This is what the First Amendment is about, the freedom to protest,” Lemon, 59, told viewers. “I’m sure people here don’t like it, but protests are not comfortable.”
That video went viral, with online critics accusing Lemon of instigating or organizing the protest.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon posted to X about Lemon’s involvement, writing, “A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws! Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo-journalism of disrupting a prayer service. You are on notice!”
Dhillon, 57, then appeared on The Benny Johnson Show on Monday, Jan. 19, where she threatened to invoke multiple different acts to prosecute Lemon and other protestors. One, the FACE Act, protects against attacks or intimidation against people “lawfully exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.”
And, of course, the MAGA rubes online — who demonstrate every day that they don’t really understand their own country’s Constitution — seem to have gotten the impression that Lemon is one of the protest’s organizers, and that he led the protesters to the protest they already had planned, despite the fact that he’s clearly a reporter with a camera crew that is clearly just there to cover the event.
Again, whether the protesters were right to disrupt the church’s service is certainly up for debate, but Lemon’s coverage of the events wasn’t a violation of anything. That protest was happening whether he showed up with a camera and microphone or not, and he had no obligation to stop it from happening or to be objective while covering it.
Unfortunately, there are just a lot of people in this country who couldn’t care less about whose rights are being regularly violated until they perceive that their own rights are being threatened.
Reasonable people don’t want to hear “don’t tread on me” from people who cheer on an administration that is treading all over the rights of others.
And reasonable Christians don’t want to hear a pastor preach love while serving a movement of hate.
SEE ALSO:
ICE Agents Invade Minneapolis Hospital With No Warrant
ICE Is The Real Criminal Threat, Not Undocumented Immigrants
