By Rebecca St Fleur
Correspondent
Amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration in Minnesota, several journalists have been arrested for reporting from protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Don Lemon, a former reporter for CNN turned independent journalist, was arrested by federal agents on Jan. 29, as were Minnesota journalist Georgia Fort and two others. They were “...indicted on one count each of conspiracy against religious freedom at a place of worship and injuring, intimidating and interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom at a place of worship,” according to CBS News.
Following Lemon’s arrest, the official White House account on X posted a photo of Don Lemon with the caption, “When life gives you lemons...” and an emoji of chains.
Bondi tweeted on X, “At my direction, early this morning federal agents arrested Don Lemon, Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort and Jamael Lydell Lundy, in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul Minnesota.”
The protest the journalists covered occurred on Jan. 18 at a church in St. Paul. The church’s pastor is also a field director for ICE in Minnesota. Anti-ICE protestors and activists entered the building during a Sunday morning service in the wake of the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent.
Both Lemon and Fort were present at the protest, documenting the incident and interviewing participants.
“The footage shows that he was with activists before the protest and followed them to the church, where he spent approximately 45 minutes and spoke with four parishioners and five protesters. In all but one instance, the exchanges appear to be calm. The footage does not show him participating in the chants that disrupted the service. A pastor at one point asks him to leave.
Seven minutes later, he exits the church building,” wrote the Washington Post after reviewing videos from the protest.
Prior to Lemon’s indictment, the U.S. Department of Justice originally tried to secure an arrest warrant against him but failed to obtain it twice due to a federal magistrate judge blocking it. However, Bondi pushed on and Lemon was arrested.
According to a video Georgia Fort posted on Facebook, she was arrested by agents who showed up at the door of her home.
Lemon and Fort were released on Jan. 30, but Lemon’s next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 9.
"Last night, the DOJ sent a team of federal agents to arrest me in the middle of the night for something that I've been doing for the last 30 years, and that is covering the news. I have spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now,” Lemon told reporters after being released.
“In fact, there is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable. Again, I will not stop now. I will not stop ever. … The First Amendment of the Constitution protects that work for me and for countless other journalists who do what I do. I stand with all of them, and I will not be silent. I look forward to my day in court. Thank you all.”
As for Fort, she has been similarly vocal about her feelings regarding the implications of such an arrest.
“There’s been a strategic attack on the free press for quite some time,” Fort said following her release, according to The Hill. “But recently it is intensifying, and I would say that the arrest of myself and Don Lemon is a new level to threaten taking someone’s freedom away for them simply doing their job, to try and criminalize journalism. Journalism is not a crime.”
