Man who chanted ‘ICE out!’ inside Minnesota church arrested in Charlotte
A Minnesota protester accused of violating civil rights for disrupting a church service with chants of “ICE out!” was arrested in Charlotte this weekend, federal court records show.
Federal prosecutors say Mark David Weinfurter and nearly 40 others showed up at a Sunday service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, after they learned one of its pastors was also a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official.
That was on Jan. 18, more than a week after a federal immigration agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis.
According to an indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina on Monday, Weinfurter and the others shouted chants like “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!” and “Stand Up, Fight Back!” while using “hostile and aggressive gestures” inside the church. Federal prosecutors say they planned a “coordinated takeover-style attack.”
All defendants are charged with conspiracy against the right of religious freedom at a place of worship and injuring, intimidating and interfering with that right. Together, the counts hold a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.
U.S. marshals escorted Weinfurter from a holding room into a courtroom inside Charlotte’s federal court Tuesday. He was wearing green cargo shorts and a white, lightweight long-sleeve Columbia shirt.
Court records show he was arrested near Charlotte on Saturday, but it is not clear exactly where he was or why he was in North Carolina.
Lambert Guinn, a former federal prosecutor who served as Weinfurter’s North Carolina defense attorney, declined to say. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police did not have any reports on his arrest. Charlotte’s FBI branch and the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for information.
Magistrate Judge David Keesler released Weinfurter on a $25,000 unsecured bond with no pushback from U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson’s office. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Kelly asked that Weinfurter not be allowed within a block of the church, and Keesler obliged.
Weinfurter is expected to go back to Minnesota, where his case will continue in the state’s federal court.
Minnesota church protest
According to court documents, some protesters — but not Weinfurter — blocked the path to the church’s daycare as congregants tried to leave. Others tried to stop them at the door to ask them how they felt about immigration enforcement.
Two independent journalists, former CNN host Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, were also charged last month in a case that raises new press freedom questions for the United States. Lemon has pleaded not guilty.
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday announced charges against 30 additional protesters in a post on X.
“YOU CANNOT ATTACK A HOUSE OF WORSHIP,” she wrote. “If you do so, you cannot hide from us — we will find you, arrest you, and prosecute you.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2026 at 2:58 PM.
