Don Lemon was arrested late Thursday night in Los Angeles after reporting on an anti-ICE protest, according to a statement from his attorney, Abbe Lowell.
In a statement released Friday, Jan. 30, Lowell said Lemon “was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles,” adding that Lemon had been in the city covering the Grammy Awards.
The FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed the arrest in separate statements. “The HSI [Homeland Security] & FBI arrested Mr. Lemon last night in Beverly Hills at approximately midnight based on a federal warrant issued in another district,” the FBI said.
Authorities tied the arrest to a Jan. 18 protest at a church in St. Paul, Minn., where demonstrators interrupted a religious service to protest immigration enforcement, chanting “ICE out.”
Prosecutors have accused Lemon of violating the FACE Act, a federal law that protects the right of people to participate in services at houses of worship, according to DHS, as well as 18 USC 241, Conspiracy to Deprive Rights.
Lemon, however, has said he entered the church solely in his role as a journalist covering the demonstration.
“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” Lowell’s statement continued, adding that Lemon was carrying out reporting duties.
“The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable,” the statement said. “There is no more important time for people like Don to be doing this work.”
Lemon now works as an independent journalist and hosts a self-titled show on YouTube. He left CNN in 2023 after 17 years at the network, following backlash over comments he made about women and aging.
The Hollywood Reporter reported that Lemon had been on a livestream that began outside the church, before he followed protesters as they went inside. Lemon reportedly interviewed protesters, congregants, and a pastor during the protest.
According to The New York Times, federal prosecutors initially sought to charge eight people in connection with the protest, including Lemon. However, a magistrate judge who reviewed the evidence last week approved charges against only three individuals, rejecting the evidence against Lemon and the others as insufficient.
The Justice Department later petitioned a federal appeals court to compel the magistrate judge to issue additional arrest warrants, including one for Lemon, but that request was denied, the outlet reported.
Lemon has previously addressed the incident in a video, insisting he was reporting on the protest rather than participating in it.
“Once the protest started in the church, we did an act of journalism, which was report on it and talk to the people involved, including the pastor, members of the church and members of the organization,” Lemon said. “That’s it. That’s called journalism.”
Justice Department officials have said they intend to prosecute protesters they believe crossed the line from activity protected by the First Amendment into unlawful conduct, The New York Times reported. Demonstrators in Minneapolis, meanwhile, have argued their constitutional rights are being violated amid an aggressive federal immigration crackdown.
Tensions in the area have remained high following the fatal shootings of two protesters by federal immigration agents. Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three, was shot earlier this month while sitting in her car, while Alex Pretti, an intensive–care nurse, was killed in a separate encounter just over two weeks later.
“Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters, the Trump Justice Department is devoting its time, attention and resources to this arrest, and that is the real indictment of wrongdoing in this case,” Lowell said in his statement.
