In Minneapolis, a sudden escalatory attack on press freedom

Author: Devin Windelspecht, MSc

February 5, 2026

HRRC calls on authorities to drop all charges against Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for carrying out their constitutional First Amendment right to record and document a protest as journalists. We maintain that the arrests represent a sudden escalation of attacks on journalists in the United States, intended to create a chilling effect to silence journalists critical of the Trump administration. We also call attention to repeated instances of violence, arbitrary arrest, and intimidation of Minneapolis reporters carrying out their constitutional rights while documenting anti-ICE protests and/or ICE detention operations.

[Image source: Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Don_Lemon.jpg]

The arrests of independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort in Minneapolis on Thursday, January 29 represent a dramatic escalation in attacks on journalists by the Trump administration, even as journalists suffer repeated instances of violence by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while covering anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis. 

Lemon, an independent journalist and former CNN anchor, and Fort, who runs the media outlet BLK Press, were arrested on the night of Thursday, January 29 and the morning of Friday, January 30, respectively, in relation to their presence at an anti-ICE protest in a Minnesota church on January 18, in which protesters interrupted the service of a pastor who also worked for ICE. Lemon and Fort, who were present to cover and live-stream the protests taking place at the church, were charged with “conspiring to violate a person’s constitutional rights” and for violating the FACE Act, which protects the right to enter medical clinics and places of worship unimpeded. 

Both Lemon and Fort have said that they were present at the protests in their capacity as journalists, not protesters, and that the arrest violates their First Amendment right to report freely. The journalists were both released from custody on Friday. 

Notably, the arrest of Lemon resulted from direct instructions by the U.S. Attorney General, Pam Bondi, who said he participated in a “coordinated attack” on the church. A criminal complaint was subsequently filed against Lemon, but the local magistrate judge declined to issue the warrants, as both he and Fort had not participated in violence. A request to review the local judge’s decision and force the issuing of the warrants was also rejected by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. Nevertheless, federal agents proceeded to arrest Lemon and Fort.

The use of the FACE Act to charge Lemon has also drawn scrutiny, as the act has a specific carve-out to protect First Amendment rights, according to a media law expert. Moreover, trespassing charges against journalists are typically issued at the state level, and are often dropped due to respect for journalists’ First Amendment rights. 

Press freedom and civil rights organizations say that the arrests mark a dark and chilling attack on press freedom by the Trump administration. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press called the federal nature of the charges “unprecedented,” while the International Press Institute said that the attacks resembled tactics used by authoritarian regimes against journalists. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the arrests “send a chilling message to other journalists reporting on the administration's actions, and should be understood in the context of the government’s broader crackdown on freedom of the press.” 

The arrests of Lemon and Fort follow a month of arrests and violence against journalists by ICE, as the agency continues its crackdown on immigrant communities in Minneapolis. In January alone, at least nine assaults on journalists were recorded by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, including the arrest of an Associated Press reporter for refusing to comply with an ICE agent’s demands to return to his car so as to continue filming an ongoing ICE operation. 

Journalists reporting on anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis, meanwhile, have been physically assaulted, pepper sprayed, and teargassed, among other instances of violence, while nationwide assaults on journalists have increased under the Trump administration. 

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Glossary 

• Arbitrary arrest – arresting or detaining an individual without sufficient cause or suspicion of a crime. 

• Assault – a physical attack. 

• Authoritarian regime – a government defined by a lack of freedoms, meaningful democratic elections or checks and balances, and absolute rule by an individual or group. 

• Carve-out – creating an exception to an otherwise universal rule. 

• Chilling effect – an intentional effect created by violence, repression, or physical or online intimidation designed to silence criticism or independent reporting. 

• Civil rights – the constitutional rights of citizens in a democracy. 

• Comply – follow an order. 

• Conspiracy – an intentional and premeditated plan, usually done in secret, against the government. 

• Court of Appeals – a federal court specifically designed to hear requests to review a previous lower court’s decisions. Decisions of a Court of Appeals can ultimately be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court. The 8th Circuit covers several states in the central United States and Upper Midwest. 

• Escalation – increasing in severity, frequency or intensity. 

• First Amendment – the U.S. constitutional right to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion and freedom of the press. 

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – the federal level agency tasked with removing undocumented immigrants or immigrants that have overstayed their work or residency permits within the United States. Distinct from Customs and Borders Protection (CBP), which is tasked with policing the United States’ external borders. In the last year, ICE has been used by the Trump administration in mass and indiscriminate raids against immigrant communities in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis and more.  

• Issue – distribute or release. 

• Live-stream – a live video feed of an event, usually posted on the internet or social media. 

• Magistrate judge – judges appointed by a district judge to assist with case loads. 

• Pepper spay – a chemical irritant that causes pain and temporary loss of vision when sprayed in the eyes. 

• Press freedom – the right of journalists to report freely and independently without fear of arrest, violence, or intimidation. 

• Scrutiny – criticism, suspicion. 

• Tear gas – a gas used often for crowd control, that causes chemical irritation in the eyes and  intense coughing, and can cause permanent damage. 

• Unprecedented – lacking a preceding event of similar scale or importance. 

• Violate – infringe on the rights of; break the law. 

• Warrant – a legal document, issued by a judge, that gives the authority to arrest an individual for a crime.