Chicago – January 31, 2026
Former CNN anchor Don Lemon has been charged with federal civil rights crimes over his coverage of an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a church service in St Paul, Minnesota, intensifying a national debate over press freedom and protest tactics.
A federal grand jury in Minnesota indicted Lemon and eight others on charges of conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers at Cities Church, where protesters denounced a pastor they say also serves as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official.
Prosecutors allege Lemon joined the group that entered the church on 18 January and livestreamed as demonstrators chanted “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referencing a woman fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
Lemon, arrested in Los Angeles and later released without posting bail, has pleaded not guilty and insists he was acting solely as an independent journalist. Media law experts and civil rights advocates have condemned the case as a troubling use of federal civil rights statutes against a reporter engaged in newsgathering.
