ST. PAUL, MN – A congregant of Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, has filed a lawsuit in federal court against Don Lemon and several other journalists and protesters who disrupted worship services with an anti-ICE demonstration last month. Ann Doucette took her claim of “emotional distress and trauma” to the U.S. District Court for Minnesota earlier this month.
According to the lawsuit, Doucette was stripped of her constitutional right of freedom of religion when demonstrators entered Cities Church to protest one of the pastor’s involvement with ICE in Minnesota.
“As a result of Defendants’ actions, the worship service was disrupted, congregants experienced fear and distress, and Plaintiff’s ability to freely exercise her religion in a private place of worship was unlawfully interfered with,” the lawsuit states.
Don Lemon, Nekima Levy Armstrong, Will Kelly, Georgia Fort, Jerome Richardson, Trahern Crews, Chauntyll Allen, and Jamael Lundy were named in Doucette’s suit. These individuals are also facing criminal charges for conspiracy against the rights of religious freedom at a place of worship and interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom.
Don Lemon and Georgia Fort are journalists who documented the occurrences of the anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in St. Paul on January 18, 2026. Lemon even stated his role as such on camera while recording and interviewing the church’s lead pastor, Jonathan Parnell, during the demonstration.
Doucette mentioned Lemon choosing to livestream the protest and said the independent journalist “appeared to take satisfaction in the disruption.”
United States Attorney General Pam Bondi worked diligently to establish charges for Don Lemon and other journalists and protesters in attendance at the anti-ICE demonstration held at Cities Church last month.
“Listen loud and clear,” Bondi wrote on X. “We do not tolerate attacks on places of worship.”
Those criminally charged as a result of the anti-ICE protest at Cities Church continue to fight those charges in court. Trahern Crews denied allegations made in Ann Doucette’s lawsuit while also responding with “empathy and compassion.”