Former CNN host Don Lemon publicly defended protesters who stormed an evangelical church service in Minneapolis on Sunday after claiming a pastor was affiliated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, comments he made during a lengthy livestream from the Twin Cities, as reported by The Independent Journal Review.

The disruption occurred at Cities Church, where demonstrators interrupted worship services while chanting slogans connected to recent anti-ICE protests.

Lemon broadcast footage of the protest during a livestream that lasted more than six hours, arriving at the church roughly 40 minutes into the broadcast.

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“Everybody has to be willing to sacrifice something to save democracy,” Lemon posted Sunday on TikTok as a caption to a video documenting his arrival in Minneapolis.

The protest was part of a broader wave of demonstrations across the Minneapolis–St. Paul area opposing ICE enforcement actions.

Tensions escalated after a recent incident in which an ICE agent was ambushed by three illegal aliens, resulting in one of them being wounded.

The unrest also followed the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good during a Jan. 17 targeted immigration enforcement operation.

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According to federal authorities, video recorded on a cellphone by the ICE agent involved shows Good refusing commands to exit her vehicle before backing up and then accelerating toward the agent.

Authorities said her girlfriend shouted, “Drive, baby, drive!” during the encounter. The Justice Department is investigating Good’s girlfriend on suspicion of attempting to impede federal law enforcement.

During his livestream from inside the church, Lemon described the scene as protesters chanting “Justice for Renee Good.”

“You can see the protesters here have gathered over here, they’re in the middle of the church,” Lemon said.

“In the beginning of the service, the pastor was speaking, and [a protester] came up and said her piece, and then the protesters surrounded her. This is a clandestine mission, I think they found out one of, according to them … that one of the pastors here is a member of ICE, so here we go.”

Lemon went on to justify the church disruption, comparing it to tactics used during the civil rights movement.

“This is the beginning of what’s going to happen here. When you violate people’s due process, when you pull people off the street, you start dragging them and hurting them, and not abiding by the constitution, you start doing all of that, people get upset and angry,” Lemon said.

“Remember what the civil rights movement was about. The civil rights movement was about these very kinds of protests.”

He further argued that protests are meant to disrupt daily life.

“The whole point of it is to disrupt and make people uncomfortable,” Lemon said, adding that the Constitution allows protests “at any time.”

Following the incident, Harmeet Dhillon, the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, announced in a post on X that the Justice Department had launched a probe into the church disruption.

Dhillon tagged Pam Bondi, who later said she spoke directly with the church’s pastor.

I just spoke to the Pastor in Minnesota whose church was targeted. Attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law.

If state leaders refuse to act responsibly to prevent lawlessness, this Department of Justice… — Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) January 19, 2026

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson criticized local leadership in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“There is no low these radical leftists won’t stoop to,” Jackson said.

“Jacob Frey and Tim Walz have whipped these rioters into a frenzy and turned them loose to wreak havoc on Minneapolis. Frey & Walz should be ashamed for inciting such chaos, but the Trump Administration will continue enforcing the law.”

The unrest extended beyond the church incident. On Saturday, left-wing rioters targeted attendees at a counter-protest supporting ICE enforcement operations in Minneapolis led by internet provocateur Jake Lang.

Lang was reportedly stabbed during the confrontation but avoided serious injury because he was wearing body armor. He later said he was hospitalized for treatment of a head injury.

Federal investigations into the church disruption and related protest violence remain ongoing.

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