Former CNN journalist arrested after protesting against immigration service in Minnesota

Former CNN anchor and independent journalist Don Lemon was detained for participating in a protest against the US president's aggressive campaign Donald Trump regarding deportation. This was reported by the agency Reuters.

Earlier this month, Lemon livestreamed a demonstration that disrupted a church service in St. Paul to protest the thousands of armed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents that Trump has sent to Minnesota's largest cities.

During the operation, federal agents repeatedly clashed with protesters and shot and killed two U.S. citizens, one before and one after the protest that led to Lemon's arrest.

According to a representative of the US Department of Justice, the journalist was charged with conspiracy to deprive others of their civil rights and violating the law prohibiting obstruction of access to places of worship.

According to his lawyer, Abby Lowell, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Homeland Security Investigations Service arrested him in Los Angeles. This comes just over a week after a federal judge refused to issue an arrest warrant for Lemon.

According to a person with knowledge of the matter, he had been under FBI surveillance for several days before his arrest. The bureau declined to comment.

"Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different from what he has always done," the lawyer said in a statement.

• On January 8, 2026, it became known that an ICE officer shot a woman who, according to the US authorities, tried to run over law enforcement officers. After that, protests began in Minneapolis.
• On January 24, in Minneapolis, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers a 37-year-old man was shot dead an American who worked as a doctor.