A Minnesota church is threatening legal action against protesters who interrupted a worship service Sunday to protest a church elder’s work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
David Easterwood, acting field office director of the Enforcement and Removal Operations office of ICE in St. Paul, is also a pastor/elder at Cities Church in east St. Paul. About three dozen protesters forced Sunday services to end early on Jan. 19, The Roys Report previously reported.
“They accosted members of our congregation, frightened children, and created a scene marked by intimidation and threat,” a statement posted to the church’s website read. “Such conduct is shameful, unlawful, and will not be tolerated.”
While welcoming “respectful dialogue about present issues” and about the Gospel, the church also called on authorities to protect its right to worship in peace. “We are evaluating next steps with our legal counsel,” the statement concluded.
It did not address Easterwood’s roles at the church or at ICE. Easterwood remained on the church’s leadership webpage as of Wednesday. Lead Pastor Jonathan Parnell did not respond to a request for comment earlier this week, and ICE declined to comment about Easterwood’s role.
Your tax-deductible gift supports our mission of reporting the truth and restoring the church. Donate $50 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you can elect to receive “Primal Fire: Reigniting the Church with the Five Gifts of Jesus” by Neil Cole, click here.
This morning, federal authorities arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong, one of the anti-ICE agitators, and charged her with violating the FACE Act. The law prohibits activity that “by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction, intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes” with someone exercising the “right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.”
Yesterday, Armstrong called for Easterwood’s removal from the church.
“How is it acceptable for David Easterwood to be a pastor while condoning this kind of conduct?” asked Armstrong at a press conference at the Hennepin County Government Center.
“Today we are calling for the resignation of so-called pastor David Easterwood from Cities Church,” she said. “We are asking Cities Church to operate in truth and integrity and the true meaning of the Gospel and to recognize that David Easterwood’s dual role as a pastor and as a director of the ICE office is a most definite conflict of interest and it cannot stand.”
Easterwood has been with ICE since 2015, but took the acting leadership position in October. The job puts him in charge of enforcement operations in Minnesota and several other states. It’s unclear whether he was at Cities Church on Sunday.
Hundreds of ICE agents have detained thousands of people in Minnesota in recent months, including immigrants with legal status and U.S. citizens. On the same day protesters entered Cities Church, ICE broke down the door of a home and led an elderly Hmong man, a U.S. citizen, out in to the snowy streets in his underwear, The Associated Press reported. ICE agents did not have a warrant to enter the home, according to the AP, and the citizen had no criminal record.
The Department of Homeland Security defended the actions, explaining that agents were conducting a targeted operation to locate and arrest two convicted sex offenders (with deportation orders) believed to be at the address.
Lawsuits and protests over ICE’s use of force have multiplied, including one in which the government relied heavily on a declaration from Easterwood defending ICE’s use of force. The judge in that case ruled last week that ICE could not use certain tactics against peaceful protesters. A federal appeals court paused that ruling Wednesday, Reuters reported.
Cities Church has close ties with Reformed Baptist institutions in the area. Two pastor-elders hold leadership roles at Desiring God, a ministry that publishes theologian John Piper’s work. Marshall Segal is president and CEO of Desiring God, and David Mathis is the executive editor.
Parnell, the lead pastor, is also a trustee at Bethlehem College and Seminary, where Piper is chancellor.
A professor at the seminary, Andy Naselli, wrote last week that he thanked ICE officers for “bravely and honorably doing their job,” and prayed for their protection, during a pastoral prayer at his church half an hour from the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area.
Sarah Einselen is an award-winning writer and editor based in Saskatchewan, Canada.
English 
Spanish
15 Responses
Andy Naselli might as well take some salt packets, it improves the taste of shoe leather on the palate. Him calling ICE agents honorable and brave is no different than when he stood up CJ Mahaney and all the other Calvinista abusive dudebros. But then he is one of John Piper’s “keep the wimminfolk barefoot and pregnant” acolytes, so I am not surprised.
Those ICE thugs are so brave they hide behind masks, yeah right. The Iraqi police did not wear masks when they are dealing with guys were shooting and killing them regularly, and these cowardly ICE thugs are scared that someone will call them nasty things while they are going out shopping or whatever. Bunch of crybabies GI Joe cosplayers.
Bootlickers like Andy and all the MAGA cultists on this site and elsewhere need to understand this: In democratic societies, the use of lawful force depends on legitimacy. Legitimacy depends on accountability. And accountability begins with identification. When the people conclude that these agents have no legitimacy and have nothing to lose, then these ICE agents find out the hard way when blank gets real.
Politics first. Christ second? You sound like your heart is turning black, brother.
Not to mention after Nekima Levy Armstrong was arrested the White House X feed used AI to doctor her photo to make her appear to be crying. The before and after photos can be viewed here.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/white-house-shares-altered-photo-arrested-minnesota-protester-nekima-l-rcna255595
This seems to be a bizzare trend among team MAGA. They are obsessed with ‘owning the libs’ to such a degree that they doctor photos to please their audience.
You can’t call yourself a pastor while not only defending, but also LEADING, the New Gestapo. The church has every right to know what their “pastor” condones (I’m guessing he didn’t actually proclaim his involvement from the pulpit…). Hopefully he didn’t have the opportunity to bring harm on anyone who trusted him. Personally, I think the protest should have stayed outdoors, but bringing attention to this matter was absolutely the right thing to do.
You’d be surprised. There’s a “pastor” here in Texas Joel Webbon that tweeted “ICE did a Pretti Goode job, but they must do far more” (https://www.instagram.com/p/DT8JvVnEepa/?hl=am-et)
And his church website says this:
“For anyone in the area who may be looking for a biblical church with a spine, willing to take a stand against the WOKE NONSENSE of the culture and the CIVIL TYRANNY of the state….” (https://covenantbible.org/)
Disgusting. They literally advertise it as a selling point.
What ICE is doing in the interior often bends and sometimes breaks the boundaries of the rule of law, not to mention the norms of a free and open society. There should be civil and criminal consequences for that, and I hope there will be such a day. But what Armstrong and her group did to that church last Sunday pretty clearly violates the FACE Act. I hope she and her rent-a-mob are all successfully prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Civilization is more fragile than many of today’s partisans seem to think. We’ll miss it when it’s gone.
Wouldn’t it be so fulfilling for the church to have ownership of all rights to the BLM, Antifa, and Don Lemon enterprises. That’s what happened to the proud boys after their conviction and ruling.
Apparently, there is more to the story about the elderly Hmong man. He was suspected of harboring two criminal aliens who had committed terrible crimes. When he refused to identify himself or be fingerprinted, they took him in to verify his identity. Once they discovered that he was a citizen, he was released. The context matters. To omit it gives the impression that ICE is acting irresponsibly, even cruelly. I suggest editing the article to include this information, once you have verified it.
I guess that pesky thing about entering without a warrant signed by a Federal Judge violating the 4th Amendment never crossed your mind (and an administrative warrant signed by an immigration judge does not count). They should have never been allowed to enter in the first place without that signed warrant. Fortunately there is the 2nd Amendment when these gestapo thugs continue to violate the 4th and other Amendments and not all vital locations are protected by body armor….
Try better next time.
Irony here? You decide. “They accosted members of our congregation (immigrant community), frightened children, and created a scene marked by intimidation and threat,” a statement posted to the church’s website (current national news) read. “Such conduct is shameful, unlawful, and will not be tolerated.”
IMO these people did right to protest they just picked the wrong place and time to do it. It’s best to keep protests outside of establishments and not to disrupt events taking place inside.
ICE has killed another person in Minneapolis this morning (Saturday, Jan 26). This church fully deserves the interruption they got last week. If anything, it was too mild.
Wonder what this so-called “Christian” leader Eastwood says in wake of the execution of Alex Pretti? Maybe it is time protestors with posters in very colorful language show up on the public sidewalk of his church again and see how this coward and the church leaders responds. The man’s conscience is seared and I hope he enjoys the nice hot place he will end up.
One only has to read this story to understand why the state of the Christian faith is where it is. When you have a man leading a congregation of Christians while at the same time violating one of Christs greatest expectations for his followers. All I have is sheesh
False flag op is what that appears to be and you can expect many more.