Minnesota Church Disrupted During ‘Operation Pull-Up’ as Pentagon Readies 1,500 Troops

By Jim Mishler | Monday, January 19, 2026

Former CNN host Don Lemon acknowledged he was present with Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters in the Twin Cities and had awareness of their planned actions before they disrupted a church service during Sunday worship.

A livestreamed video posted on the Facebook page of Black Lives Matter Minnesota, one of the protest organizers, shows a group chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good” interrupting services at Cities Church in St. Paul.

Good, 37, was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis earlier this month amid a surge in federal immigration enforcement activities.

The protesters alleged that one of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, also leads the local ICE field office overseeing operations.

Lemon admitted he was with the group during a livestream from a parking lot near Minneapolis-St. Paul.

“These are resistance protesters,” Lemon said. “They’re planning an operation.”

“We’re going to follow them on,” he added. “I can’t tell you exactly what they’re doing, but it’s called Operation Pull-Up.”

He identified local activist Nekima Armstrong as the leader of the effort and described the demonstrations.

“She’s been doing this since George Floyd, Daunte Wright, and others, where they surprise people, catch them off guard, and hold them to account,” Lemon said.

Lemon stated the group intentionally disclosed their plans ahead of time.

“So that’s what we’re doing here. And after we do this operation, you’ll see it live,” he said.

“These operations are surprise operations. Again, I can’t tell you where they’re going.”

During the livestream, Lemon also commented on demonstrators carrying an American flag, describing it as “MAGA-coded.”

Shortly afterward, dozens of protesters entered the church.

Lemon was seen pushing close to a church leader, holding what appears to be a recording device near his face, and attempting to gather information.

People who disrupted the Minneapolis church service Sunday will face the “full force” of the Justice Department, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, told Newsmax Monday.

“This is going to get the highest attention from the Department of Justice,” Dhillon said. “There is no more sacred right in our Constitution than the right to assemble and pray to God, and there are federal laws that protect that right.”

Dhillon stated it appeared protesters broke federal laws.

“And what happened here was a shameful exercise of virtue signaling, disruption, fear, terror,” she added. “You can see children in this video being ushered out the back by their terrorized mothers. And this is illegal.”

Following public criticism, Lemon issued statements disputing claims he had prior knowledge of church disruption.

“I had no affiliations with that organization,” he said. “I didn’t even know they were going to this church until we followed them. We were there chronicling protests.”

Lemon further described his actions after the demonstration began.

“Once the protest started in the church, we did an act of journalism,” he said. “Which was report on it and talk to the people who were involved, which included the pastor, members of the church, and members of the organization.”

Dhillon said federal prosecutors are headed to Minneapolis with FBI agents working with local leaders to investigate potential illegal activity, including Lemon’s actions.

The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers to be ready in case of a possible deployment to Minnesota, where federal authorities have been conducting a massive immigration enforcement operation, according to two defense officials speaking anonymously on Sunday.

Two infantry battalions from the Army’s 11th Airborne Division, based in Alaska and specializing in Arctic operations, were given prepare-to-deploy orders. One official said troops are standing by to deploy to Minnesota should President Donald Trump invoke the Insurrection Act, a rarely used 19th century law that would allow him to employ active duty troops as law enforcement.