Levy Armstrong, Allen face judge after arrest tied to ICE protest at church
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Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen made their first appearances in federal court Thursday afternoon after being arrested for disrupting a St. Paul church service Sunday as activists protested a pastor at the church who works for ICE.
Allen is a St. Paul school board member and longtime Black Lives Matter activist. Levy Armstrong is a civil rights attorney and activist.
At the hearing, federal prosecutors said the defendants were charged with allegedly depriving the church members of their First Amendment right to worship. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has characterized the incident as a riot, but activists did not injure anyone or damage any property.
Prosecutors argued that the demonstrators committed a violent crime because the parishioners feared for their safety. To back this claim, they alleged that a woman in the congregation slipped on the icy pavement and broke her arm while fleeing the church.
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Magistrate Judge Doug Micko asked to see the arrest warrants that are the basis of the criminal complaints, but the prosecutors didn’t bring the paperwork.
“The defendants have a right to see the charges against them before we proceed,” said Micko, before calling a brief recess.
The criminal complaints remain sealed. Prosecutors say there’s information they still need to redact from the public record and pledged to do that by Friday.
Micko rejected the government’s motion to detain Levy Armstrong and Allen and to require them to post $10,000 cash bail.
In another unusual move, prosecutors appealed Micko’s release order to a district judge, which means Levy Armstrong and Allen weren’t able to leave the courthouse after their hearing.
Outside the Lucy Parsons Center in Minneapolis Thursday, activists spoke out against what they described as “bogus” charges.
"Whether you try to hide behind religion or authority, we see you, and we will not stop until you face justice for the harm done to our people,” said Jae Yates of People's Action Coalition Against Trump.
-- Matt Sepic and Nicole Ki, MPR News
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