A federal judge on Friday ordered the release of two Minnesota women who stormed a Minnesota church last Sunday after the FBI and Homeland Security agents arrested them on Thursday.
US District Judge Laura Provinzino (Biden) said that the protesters, Nekima Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen, do not pose a flight risk – but must surrender their passports while they await trial. Provinzino found that the Trump administration offered “no factual or legal support” to justify their claim that this was a “crime of violence.”
A video of the two women posted on line shows them emerging from detention on Friday, raising their fists.
The pair were arrested Thursday morning and charged with Conspiracy to Deprive Rights for their key roles in storming Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota on Sunday. They each face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Homeland Security Investigators and FBI agents arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong who played a key role in orchestrating the Church Riots in St. Paul, Minnesota.
She is being charged with a federal crime under 18 USC 241.
Religious freedom is the bedrock of the United States -… pic.twitter.com/LHh994fXf3
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) January 22, 2026
A judge has also ordered the release of a third activist, William Kelly, who was involved in the protest, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
Armstrong, former president of the NAACP in Minneapolis, helped lead a group that poured into the Cities Church in St. Paul before chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” because one of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, heads up the local ICE field office.
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