Protesters interrupt St. Paul church service, say pastor works as ICE director in field office
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The U.S. Department of Justice said Sunday it is investigating a group of protesters in Minnesota who disrupted services at a church where a local official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement apparently serves as a pastor.
A livestreamed video posted on the Facebook page of Black Lives Matter Minnesota, one of the protest’s organizers, shows a group of people interrupting services at the Cities Church in St. Paul by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good.”
The protesters allege that one of the church’s pastors — David Easterwood — also leads the local ICE field office overseeing the operations that they said have involved violent tactics and illegal arrests.
Lawyer and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong was one of the protestors in the room. She said the objective was to raise awareness.
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“You expect someone to align with the teachings of Christianity. Loving thy neighbor, showing care for each other and spreading the Good News. However, when you are also serving as the director of the ICE office in St Paul,” Armstrong said. “From my perspective, that’s a problem.”
The website of Cities Church lists David Easterwood as a pastor, and his personal information appears to match that of the David Easterwood identified in court filings as the acting director of the ICE St. Paul field office. Easterwood appeared alongside DHS Secretary Kristi Noem at a Minneapolis press conference last October.
Armstrong asked a pastor leading the service why Easterwood was employed by the church. She said that pastor started saying “shame” to her.
“Which let me know everything I needed to know about the fact that he was fully aware of David Easterwood’s dual role,” Armstrong said.
MPR News reached out to Cities Church for comment and requested an interview with Easterwood. The Church did not respond.
Easterwood did not lead the part of the service that was livestreamed, and it was unclear if he was present at the church Sunday.
