Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced Monday that the Department of Justice intends to pursue charges against journalist Don Lemon under the Ku Klux Klan Act, alleging that he participated in a mob of anti-ICE protesters who disrupted a Sunday church service in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Appearing on The Benny Johnson Show, Dhillon described the Klan Act as a powerful federal civil rights statute.
“The Klan Act is one of the most important federal civil rights statutes. Its a law that makes it illegal to terrorize and violate the civil rights of citizens. Whenever people conspire this, the Klan Act can be used,” she said.
“Everyone in the protest community needs to know that the fullest force of the federal government is going to come down and prevent this from happening and put people away for a long time.”
What did Don Lemon do?
On Sunday, Don Lemon livestreamed events as protesters entered a Cities Church service in Minneapolis to oppose Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s presence in the state. The protesters accused the church’s pastor of cooperating with ICE and demanded that President Donald Trump’s federal immigration authorities leave Minnesota. They also called for justice for Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot earlier this month by agent Jonathan Ross on a Minneapolis street.
Dhillon later focused on Lemon in a post on X, accusing him of “participating” in the protest.
“A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws! Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo journalism of disrupting a prayer service,” she wrote.
She concluded with a warning, “You are on notice.”
Dhillon also said her office was coordinating with Attorney General Pam Bondi to probe whether the incident violated the federal FACE Act, which prohibits interference with religious worship.
Also Read: Who is Don Lemon and what is the FACE Act? What to know after ex-CNN anchor storms Cities Church in Minneapolis
Don Lemon’s response
In a video posted Sunday night, Lemon denied any role in organizing the protest.
“I have no affiliations with that organization,” he said, adding that he had no prior knowledge that protesters planned to enter the church.
Also Read: Don Lemon reacts to MAGA backlash over anti-ICE protest coverage: ‘We did an act of…’
What is Ku Klux Klan Act?
The Ku Klux Klan Act, also known as the Enforcement Act of 1871, is a US law signed by President Ulysses S. Grant on April 20, 1871.
After the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan and similar groups used violence, intimidation, and murder to prevent Black Americans from voting, holding office, or exercising basic civil rights.
The law made it a federal crime to conspire to deprive people of their constitutional rights and gave the president broad authority to enforce those rights, including deploying federal troops and, in extreme cases, suspending habeas corpus in areas where violence made normal law enforcement ineffective.