On Monday (and two days before she was charged by the Justice Department), CNN News Central’s Julia Vargas Jones interviewed attorney and founder of The 
Racial Justice Network, Nekima Levy Armstrong. Armstrong was one of the organizers for the ICE protest that disrupted a church service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Jones began by noting that Minneapolis has felt more “calm” in the aftermath of the protest, attributing the change to the “new restrictions that were slapped on those federal agents. She added that the area feels more controlled and zones have been made specifically for protesting.
Jones then gave Armstrong the opportunity to make a series of uninterrupted accusations against ICE. When asked if she was disappointed that the pastor was not present at the church during the protest, Armstrong answered, “It didn’t matter to me whether he was present or not.”
Armstrong went on to condemn the pastor and his role, stating:
“The reality is that it's unconscionable and unacceptable for someone to claim to serve as a pastor while also being responsible for a lot of what is happening here in our community as a result of thousands of ICE agents descending upon the state of Minnesota and the Twin Cities in particular.”
Armstrong also admitted that she had watched an online sermon that the pastor of Cities Church gave. She described the preachers as “calm” and almost like he “cared,” but she then criticized him for being an “overseer for these agents that, again, are brutalizing people in our community.”
According to Armstrong, ICE agents are “cutting women out of seatbelts in their cars, dragging them out of cars, breaking their car windows, attacking children on school grounds [and] spraying them with pepper spray.”
Jones concluded the segment by referencing comments from Attorney General Pam Bondi, who said “attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians would be met with the full force of the federal government.”
Click "Expand" to view the transcript:
CNN News Central
01/19/2026
3:17 PM ETERICA HILL: CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is following all these developments for us, joining us now from the Twin Cities. So, Julia, first of all, walk us through what you're seeing today.
JULIA VARGAS JONES: Yeah, today is much more of a calm day here, Erica. We're not seeing the kind of activity that we have been for the past few days, and in -- in part that has to do with the new restrictions that were slapped on those federal agents. So, now, outside the ICE facility where protests had been -- protesters have been clashing with those federal agents, there's a lot more control. There is a presence of the Sheriff's Department there. There are areas specifically for protesting there. So, it's a very different vibe, and -- and it also goes to show that protesters are perhaps changing their tactics. That's what we saw with this protest inside a church. We actually spoke to one of the organizers of that protest to kind of understand how this came about and why they decided to do that. Take a listen. [TO ARMSTRONG] He wasn't present there. Were you hoping that he was going to be there yesterday?
NEKIMA LEVY ARMSTRONG: It didn't matter to me whether he was present or not. The reality is that it's unconscionable and unacceptable for someone to claim to serve as a pastor while also being responsible for a lot of what is happening here in our community as a result of thousands of ICE agents descending upon the state of Minnesota and the Twin Cities in particular. To think about someone claiming to be a pastor, I -- I watched part of a sermon that he gave on Saturday that was online. You know, to see his demeanor, you know, looking calm, looking like he cared. But then on the flip side, being an overseer for these agents that, again, are brutalizing people in our community. I mean, cutting women out of seatbelts in their cars, dragging them out of cars, breaking their car windows, attacking children on school grounds, spraying them with pepper spray. I don't understand how you can reconcile the two.
JONES: Now, the Department of Homeland Security, Erica, declined to confirm whether or not that pastor and ICE agent - officer, I should say, are indeed the same person. In a statement to CNN, the Homeland Security Assistant Secretary, Tricia McLaughlin, said, quote, "DHS will never confirm or deny attempts to dox our law enforcement officers." This after Attorney General Pam Bondi had posted last night on X that she had been in touch with the pastor in Minnesota whose church was targeted. And she also said that attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians would be met with the full force of the federal government. Erica?
HILL: Julia, really appreciate it. Thank you.
