Ian Davis Austin, one of nine defendants charged over a January disruption at St. Paul’s Cities Church, filed a motion on Friday seeking dismissal of the conspiracy and Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act counts as applied to him, arguing the indictment criminalizes expressive protest activity rather than unlawful conduct.
Austin is charged with conspiracy against rights under 18 U.S.C. § 241 and interference with religious freedom under the FACE Act, statutes that require allegations of force, threats of force, or physical obstruction. His attorneys argue the indictment falls short of those standards.
“The Indictment does not allege that he used force against any person,” the motion states. “It pleads no physical contact, assaultive conduct, weapons, or acts capable of causing bodily harm. Nor does it allege that he threatened force.”
According to the indictment unsealed on Jan. 30, Austin attended a planning meeting and later stood in or near aisles during a church service where protesters confronted the pastor, who the protesters said also serves as a federal immigration official. The defense argues those allegations amount to political speech and presence during a protest, not conduct criminalized by the FACE Act’s narrow terms.
Public reporting has identified Austin as a military veteran and vocal critic of ICE. MPR News reported that Austin, described by a fellow protester as a former Army Ranger with multiple deployments to Afghanistan, was arrested Jan. 30 outside the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis and briefly held in Sherburne County Jail. In a video recorded during his detention, Austin claimed authorities were “targeting” him following viral online posts criticizing ICE actions.
The motion also notes that during the complaint stage of the case, a magistrate judge declined to approve FACE Act charges against certain proposed defendants due to insufficient evidence of physical obstruction, an issue Austin’s attorneys say persists in the grand jury indictment.
The charges stem from a Jan. 18 planned protest that unfolded amid “Operation Metro Surge,” a Trump administration-led immigration enforcement push in Minnesota that has sharply escalated arrests and removals in the Twin Cities.
Austin is charged alongside Don Lemon, who faces the same conspiracy and FACE Act counts, and was captured on film showing a degree of awareness about the protesters’ plans prior to following them inside Cities Church during the church storming last month.
Lemon was arrested and released without bail on Jan. 30. This week, he addressed the case during remarks at the Human Rights Campaign’s 2026 Greater New York dinner, likening his arrest to historic civil rights struggles while insisting he was acting as a journalist, not a protester.
“I’m not an activist. I’m not a protester. I am a journalist,” Lemon said.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who led the Justice Department’s push to bring prosecutions in this case, has pushed back on claims that any of the nine defendants were there lawfully expressing their First Amendment rights, including those who claimed they were there to report on the incident.
“I don’t care if they’re a journalist or not. I’ve personally represented numerous journalists, and I’ve been a journalist,” Dhillon told the Daily Signal in an interview. “I highly respect the press and the First Amendment.”
DON LEMON ARRESTED BY FEDERAL OFFICIALS OVER MINNESOTA CHURCH ‘ICE OUT’ PROTEST
“What I don’t respect is somebody violating somebody else’s First Amendment rights in their sanctuary, which is protected by federal law as well as the First Amendment,” she added, “and that’s what happened in this case.”
Lemon is expected to be arraigned in Minnesota federal court on Friday afternoon. Austin has pleaded not guilty, and the court has not yet scheduled a hearing on his motion to dismiss.
