Founding pastor of MN church says anti-ICE outburst raises security concerns, calls for prosecutions

One of the founding pastors of the St. Paul, Minnesota church disrupted by anti-ICE protesters on Sunday said the incident would have been unnerving for the congregation because of the recent church shooting in neighboring Minneapolis and called for the federal government to prosecute protesters for any violation of the law. 

“It wasn't, you know, protesting at the city hall or at the governor's mansion or at the White House, where those sorts of things may have their place. Instead, they targeted a Christian place of worship simply because one of the pastors is a government law enforcement agent,” Joe Rigney, pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, told Just the News. 

On Sunday, a group of anti-ICE protesters in St. Paul disrupted a church service because they believed the pastor has ties to the immigration enforcement agency. 

Since the start of this year, Minnesota has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration's effort to remove illegal migrants living in the U.S. Earlier this month, an ICE agent fatally shot a Minneapolis motorist, Renee Good, who, federal authorities say, tried to disrupt operations and hit an agent with her vehicle.  

Rigney, who helped found Cities Church in St. Paul and served there for seven years, said the disruption was absolutely unjustified and mirrors recent encroachments on houses of worship by protesters who target members of the congregations. Rigney also founded Christ Church in Washington, D.C., which has faced protests of its own because Secretary of War Pete Hegseth regularly attends. 

“It was illegal and my hope is that the Trump administration or local officials [will] even prosecute those responsible for violating the sanctuary in that way,” Rigney told the John Solomon Reports podcast on Monday. 

The pastor said the incident was likely especially unnerving for the congregation because of recent events, especially in the Twin Cities, where a deadly shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church left two victims dead and others injured. 

“I think in this day and age, kind of after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, after a trans shooter, you know, killed a bunch of children at a Catholic mass in the Twin Cities, I think churches across the country are having to think about this and that, if you see people immediately stand up, I think the first thing that people think is, is this an active shooter situation, is this, are these people here to do violence?” Rigney said. 

“With this new tactic, I think the churches do have to think a little differently,” Rigney added. “It's, you know, 50 to 100 people seeking to take over the service, which requires a different response.” 

The chief of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Harmeet Dhillon, said on Sunday that the department is investigating the disruption for potential violations of the FACE Act. 

The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994 in part prohibits the use or "threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking ... or [exercising] the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship."