An Ordained Minister Was Arrested for Asking Questions in Church. The Charge: Conspiracy Against Religious Freedom.
The Attorney General who ordered the arrest lobbied for the private prison company profiting from ICE operations.
The Arrests
At 10:47 AM Central Time on January 22, 2026, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on social media: “At my direction, HSI and FBI agents executed an arrest in Minnesota.”
The target: Nekima Levy Armstrong—civil rights attorney, former NAACP Minneapolis chapter president, and ordained minister.
Her alleged crime: leading a protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, where she confronted Pastor David Easterwood about his dual role as acting field office director for ICE.
Armstrong had asked the congregation a simple question: “How is it possible to hold both roles with integrity, with honor?”
The federal charge: conspiracy against rights under 18 USC § 241—a statute that bars “threatening or intimidating someone exercising a right.” A felony carrying up to ten years in prison.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted a photograph of Armstrong in custody. FBI Director Kash Patel announced two more arrests: Chauntyll Louisa Allen, a St. Paul school board member and Black Lives Matter organizer, charged under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act; and William Kelly, who had publicly dared the DOJ to arrest him days earlier.
The FACE Act charge is notable. The Trump administration has criticized the Biden administration for using the same law to prosecute people blocking abortion clinics, calling those cases “weaponization” of law enforcement. Now they’re using it against church protesters.
Hours later, a federal judge rejected the government’s request for a detention hearing. Armstrong was released. In a separate proceeding, a judge rebuffed related charges the administration had sought against journalist Don Lemon.
The arrests came hours before a statewide general strike. They came the same day Vice President JD Vance arrived in Minneapolis. They came the day after the 8th Circuit lifted restrictions on ICE’s use of tear gas against peaceful protesters.
A Black ordained minister was arrested for confronting a white pastor about his role in immigration enforcement. The charge: violating religious freedom.
The officials who ordered this arrest have documented financial ties to the private prison industry profiting from the very enforcement operations Armstrong was questioning.
Who Ordered This
Pam Bondi: From GEO Lobbyist to Attorney General
In 2019, Pam Bondi registered as a lobbyist for GEO Group through Ballard Partners. LDA filings show Ballard Partners received $60,000 from GEO Group during the period she was registered; some reports claim $390,000 in total GEO-related compensation.
The entities she lobbied: the White House and Department of Homeland Security.
The issue: “Promoting the use of public-private partnerships in correctional services.”
GEO Group is the nation’s largest private prison operator. It holds $2.2 billion in ICE contracts through its subsidiary BI Incorporated. It operates over 100 detention facilities totaling approximately 85,500 beds.
Now Bondi is Attorney General, overseeing the Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Marshals Service, and immigration courts—all of which contract with or affect GEO Group’s business.
During her confirmation hearing, Senator Dick Durbin asked if she would recuse herself from GEO matters. Bondi responded: “I will consult with the career ethics officials within the Department of Justice and make the appropriate decision.”
No public recusal has been documented.
On July 11, 2025, Bondi fired Joseph Tirrell—the Director of DOJ’s Departmental Ethics Office. This was the official responsible for advising on recusals and conflicts of interest. Earlier, the senior career ethics official had been removed and replaced with political appointees.
Senator Durbin’s May 2025 letter to Bondi stated: “We can no longer be sure you have properly recused yourself.”
This is the Attorney General who ordered Nekima Levy Armstrong’s arrest.
Tom Homan: $50,000 in a Cava Bag
Border Czar Tom Homan’s February 2025 federal ethics disclosure revealed he received “at least $5,000 in consulting fees” from GEO Care—a GEO Group division—during the two years prior to his appointment. Ethics rules only require disclosure above $5,000; actual compensation could be significantly higher.
But the consulting fees are the lesser story.
In September 2024, while Trump’s campaign was underway, FBI undercover agents recorded Homan accepting $50,000 in cash—reportedly in a Cava restaurant takeout bag—in a Texas sting operation. According to internal Justice Department documents reviewed by MSNBC, hidden cameras and audiotapes captured Homan “indicating he could help the agents win government contracts in a second Trump administration.”
The Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section joined the case in late November 2024. Prosecutors considered four potential charges: conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, and two types of fraud.
Then Emil Bove became acting Deputy Attorney General. After being briefed on the case, he reportedly called it a “deep state” probe and “told Justice Department officials he did not support the investigation.”
The DOJ officially closed the case in September 2025, citing “insufficient evidence.”
Homan now oversees all deportations, borders, and maritime security. His stated policy goal: expanding ICE detention to 100,000 beds—more than double current capacity. GEO Group operates approximately 90% of ICE detention facilities alongside CoreCivic.
David Venturella: $6 Million from GEO, Now Overseeing GEO Contracts
Congressional Democrats documented that Homan “played a key role” in hiring David Venturella as the No. 2 official overseeing the ICE division that manages contracts for immigrant detention centers.
Venturella’s background: 22 years at ICE, rising to Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations. Then 12 years at GEO Group as an executive.
His compensation from GEO Group: over $6 million. His 2021 compensation alone totaled $1,334,722.
In a June 2019 deposition, Venturella admitted to staying at Trump International Hotel Washington D.C. “at least 10 times” on GEO Group’s corporate expense account while lobbying the Trump administration for favorable contract terms.
In January 2025, Venturella rejoined the government—recruited by Homan as “an old friend and former colleague.” Federal ethics rules prohibit government employees from working on contracts with former employers. To circumvent this, DHS hired Venturella as a “full-time adviser” and granted him an ethics waiver.
ICE claims Venturella has divested his GEO stocks and “has no role in reviewing, approving, or recommending contracts.” They declined to explain why he was given a waiver authorizing him to work on GEO matters at all.
The Vertical Integration
GEO Group’s business model ensures profit at every stage of immigration enforcement.
Through BI Incorporated, GEO holds the exclusive $2.2 billion contract for ICE’s Alternatives to Detention program. The SmartLINK app monitors approximately 182,000 immigrants through facial recognition, GPS tracking, and voice biometric verification. According to FOIA documents, the app harvests facial images, voiceprints, geolocation data, phone contacts, vehicle information, and medical data including pregnancy status.
On December 16, 2025, BI Incorporated received a contract worth up to $121 million to hunt immigrants who flee or miss check-ins.
As The Intercept documented: “The deal illustrates a strategy of vertical integration within GEO Group... the corporation stands to be paid by the federal government to both find immigrants and then to imprison them.”
This isn’t theoretical. In 2018, BI Incorporated provided GPS location data from ankle monitors to ICE, enabling what agency documents describe as “the largest coordinated arrest in the history of ISAP”—more than 40 individuals arrested in the Manassas, Virginia area. The operation only came to light through FOIA litigation.
In 2019, the same data was used to arrest nearly 700 workers at Mississippi poultry processing plants—the largest workplace immigration raid in over a decade.
The same company that monitors an immigrant’s location can now be paid to find that person when they flee. The parent company profits again when they’re detained.
The Political Investment
GEO Group’s 2024 political contributions tell the story:
$500,000 to Trump-Vance inaugural committee
$775,000 to Republican Congressional Leadership Fund
Total 2024 cycle: over $3.7 million
GEO Group’s stock has doubled since the 2024 election. CEO J. David Donahue called the current environment “an unprecedented opportunity.”
The Framework That Made This Possible
On September 25, 2025, President Trump signed National Security Presidential Memorandum 7—”Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence.”
The ACLU called it “a fever dream of conspiracies, outright falsehoods, and the president’s distorted equation of criticism of his policies by real or perceived political opponents with ‘criminal and terroristic conspiracies.’”
NSPM-7 identifies “anti-Christian,” “anti-capitalism,” or “anti-American” views as potential indicators of domestic terrorism. It directs Joint Terrorism Task Forces to investigate not just individuals but “all participants in these criminal and terroristic conspiracies—including the organized structures, networks, entities, organizations, funding sources, and predicate actions behind them.”
Funding sources. Networks. Organizations.
The Attorney General’s December 2025 memo instructs federal prosecutors to investigate “funding sources” of protest organizations. Under this framework, donating to a civil rights organization becomes potential “material support for terrorism.”
Now look at what happened to Nekima Levy Armstrong.
She led a protest at Cities Church. She asked how David Easterwood could hold both roles—ICE director and pastor—”with integrity.” She was charged with conspiracy against religious freedom.
An ordained minister asking questions in a church. Prosecuted under a framework that identifies “anti-Christian” views as terrorism indicators.
This is what the framework looks like in practice.
The Asymmetry
The Associated Press put it plainly: “The Justice Department’s swift investigation into the church disruption stands in contrast to its decision not to open a civil rights investigation into Good’s killing by an ICE officer.”
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said last week there was “no basis” for a civil rights investigation into the death of Renee Good.
No basis.
An ICE agent shot an American citizen through her windshield as she turned away from him. Her last words were “I’m not mad at you.” Three shots in 698 milliseconds. No basis for investigation.
A minister asked questions in a church. Three federal arrests within five days.
Within hours of Sunday’s church protest, the DOJ mobilized.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced her agency was investigating “federal civil rights violations by these people desecrating a house of worship.”
Attorney General Bondi personally called Pastor Jonathan Parnell.
The White House issued a statement: “President Trump will not tolerate the intimidation and harassment of Christians in their sacred places of worship.”
Joe Rigney—one of the founding pastors at Cities Church, who served there until 2023 and maintains documented ties to Douglas Wilson’s Christian nationalist movement—told reporters his first concern would be safety, especially after the fatal shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school Mass last summer.
DOJ is protecting the church of the man who runs ICE.
Meanwhile, ICE has raided churches serving immigrants with no investigation. In Charlotte in November, masked federal agents arrived at a church while congregants did yard work after Saturday service. They detained one member—a man who had just delivered the message that day—and sent others fleeing into nearby woods. A 15-year-old witness: “We thought church was safe.”
The sensitive locations policy protecting churches from immigration enforcement was rescinded on January 21, 2025—Trump’s first full day in office.
Armstrong, now released, responded to those who criticized entering a church:
Who gets “religious freedom” protection depends on who’s in the pews.
What Comes Tomorrow
The arrests came the day before the largest coordinated labor action Minnesota has seen in decades.
Tomorrow—January 23—the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, the St. Paul Federation of Educators, SEIU Local 26, UNITE HERE Local 17, the Minnesota Nurses Association, and dozens of other organizations have called for a statewide general strike. No work. No school. No shopping.
Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools have moved to online classes through February. ICE agents tear-gassed students at Roosevelt High School on January 7—the same day Renee Good was killed.
1,500 soldiers from the 11th Airborne Division in Alaska are on standby for possible deployment under the Insurrection Act.
The same day this piece publishes, DOJ served grand jury subpoenas to Governor Walz, Attorney General Ellison, Mayor Frey, and others—demanding records related to federal immigration enforcement.
Three of the strike’s organizers were arrested today. Armstrong has been released. Allen and Kelly remain in custody.
The Thread That Runs Through This
The officials who ordered Nekima Levy Armstrong’s arrest profit from the machinery she was questioning.
Bondi lobbied for GEO Group, then fired the ethics official who would advise on recusal, then ordered the arrest of a minister who confronted a federal official about enforcement operations that benefit GEO Group.
Homan accepted $50,000 in an FBI sting, saw the case closed after political intervention, and now oversees policies that funnel billions to his former consulting clients.
Venturella earned $6 million from GEO Group, returned to government with an ethics waiver, and now helps oversee contracts with his former employer.
The surveillance company that tracks immigrants sells that data to hunt them. The parent company profits when they’re detained. The officials who expand detention profit from the expansion.
And when a minister asks questions about this arrangement, she’s arrested for conspiracy against religious freedom.
Every night for two weeks, protesters have gathered in Minneapolis. They have been tear-gassed, flash-banged, and pepper-sprayed. They have watched federal agents in unmarked vehicles drag their neighbors away.
And they come back.
They wash the chemical agents from each other’s eyes. They help each other up. They stand between federal agents and their neighbors’ doors.
Tonight, people are still in the streets.
Tomorrow, they plan to shut the city down.
The machinery is vast. The conflicts are documented. The question is whether anyone can stop it.
Mark Ramm is an investigative journalist and publisher of The RAMM on Substack.
Series Navigation
The Gamergate Army Gets Badges and Guns — An 8-part series documenting the 22-year pipeline from 4chan to federal immigration enforcement.
Part 1: The Commander with the Highest Use-of-Force Record in Border Patrol
Part 2: Masked Agents. Vanishing Detainees. Four Lines Already Crossed.
Part 3: A 15-Year-Old Built 4chan for Anime. His Design Choices Led to 75 Deaths.
Part 7: Nick Fuentes Dined at Mar-a-Lago. Now His Army Is in the GOP.
Follow-Ups:
Noem’s Podium “One of Ours, All of Yours”: The Ideology of Collective Punishment
“Until the Cities Lie Ruined”: The Bible Verse DHS Didn’t Finish
Sources
The Arrests (January 22, 2026)
NPR: “3 people involved in Minnesota church protest arrested; judge rejects charges against journalist” — Key source for Todd Blanche “no basis” quote, FACE Act context, Don Lemon charges rejected
Fox News: “FBI arrests Minnesota agitator who organized storming of St. Paul church”
CBS Minnesota: “AG Pam Bondi: 3 arrested over disruption of ICE pastor’s church services” — Armstrong released, detention hearing rejected
KARE 11: “Activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, St. Paul school board member Chauntyll Allen arrested”
Common Dreams: “Bondi Announces 2 Arrests Over Protest at Church of ICE-Linked Pastor” — Armstrong theology quote
Minnesota Star Tribune: “Activists interrupt Sunday church service, say pastor works for ICE”
Pam Bondi and GEO Group
OpenSecrets: GEO Group Lobbying Summary 2019
LDA Senate Filings: Ballard Partners / GEO Group
Politico: “DOJ ethics chief fired”
Senator Dick Durbin: Letter to AG Bondi re: recusal
Tom Homan
CREW: “Trump Border Czar received payments from private prison company”
MSNBC: “Tom Homan was recorded accepting $50,000 in cash in FBI sting”
David Venturella
House Oversight Democrats: “Ranking Member Raskin demands information on conflicts of interest”
SEC Filings: GEO Group DEF 14A proxy statements
DocumentCloud: Venturella Deposition (June 2019)
GEO Group and BI Incorporated
GAO: “Alternatives to Detention: ICE Needs to Better Assess Program Performance” — $2.2 billion contract confirmation
The Intercept: “ICE Hires Immigrant Bounty Hunters From Private Prison Company GEO Group” — Sam Biddle, December 19, 2025
Just Futures Law: “ICE Digital Prisons” — Manassas operation documentation
CyberScoop: “ICE surveillance app SmartLINK”
New York Times: “680 Undocumented Workers Arrested in Mississippi”
GEO Political Donations
OpenSecrets: GEO Group PAC Summary 2024
Seeking Alpha: GEO Group Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
NSPM-7
White House: “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence”
ACLU: “How NSPM-7 Seeks to Use ‘Domestic Terrorism’ to Target Nonprofits and Activists”
Church Raids and Sensitive Locations
General Strike and Military Standby
Labor Notes: “Will ICE Ignite a Mass Strike in Minnesota?”
Washington Post: “1,500 troops prepare to possibly deploy to Minnesota”
CBS News: “DOJ subpoenas Walz, Ellison, Frey”
The Hill: “Appeals court lifts restrictions on ICE at Minnesota protests”
MPR News: “Tear gas at Roosevelt High School”
Previous Coverage
Mark Ramm: “The Gamergate Army Gets Badges and Guns” — 8-part series
Mark Ramm: “One of Ours, All of Yours” — Historical roots of collective punishment
Mark Ramm: “Here Am I, Send Me” — Christian nationalist recruitment
Mark Ramm: “The ICE Director Who Preaches on Sundays” — David Easterwood
What do you all think? Does this seem like it should be more widely covered?