Anti‑ICE Protesters Freed After St. Paul Church Arrests — White House Image Found Altered

Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen, who were arrested after taking part in an anti‑ICE demonstration that interrupted Sunday church services in St. Paul, Minnesota, were released from federal custody after a judge found detention was not warranted.

Video shared online shows the two women leaving detention on Friday, raising their fists and embracing supporters. "Thank you all for being here," Levy Armstrong told the crowd. "Glory to God!"

Judge Orders Release

A federal judge ordered their release earlier the same day, finding that the government had not "met its burden to demonstrate that a detention hearing is warranted, or that detention is otherwise appropriate." In a related decision, a judge also ordered the release of a third activist, William Kelly, saying he was not a danger to the public, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

Controversy Over Altered Image

On Thursday, the White House posted a digitally altered image of Armstrong's arrest on social media that had been manipulated to make her appear to be crying and to darken her skin. The image was captioned in all caps: "Arrested far-left agitator Nekima Levy Armstrong for orchestrating church riots in Minnesota."

News organizations, including The Guardian, helped expose the manipulation in part because Kristi Noem — who had earlier shared the original photograph — posted an unaltered image showing Armstrong composed, making the alteration apparent.

Arrest Footage Shows Calm Interaction

On Friday, Armstrong's non‑profit, the Racial Justice Network, published video of her arrest taken by her husband, Marques Armstrong. The more‑than‑seven‑minute clip, posted to the group's Facebook page, documents the moments before and during her detention and shows Armstrong calmly questioning officers about being recorded.

"I'm asking you to please treat me with dignity and respect," Armstrong tells agents on the video. An agent responds, "We have to put you in handcuffs," while another raises a phone and appears to record.

At no point in the recording does Armstrong cry or lose composure; instead she engages the agents and frames the protest as a response to what she called brutality by ICE. An agent in the footage says, "I'm not in here to get in a political debate."

Claims of Political Targeting and Image Manipulation

Armstrong and her allies say the altered image and subsequent social media posts amount to political persecution. In an audio message shared with the Associated Press and recorded during a call from jail, Armstrong suggested the arrest imagery had been manipulated with AI — a claim she and her supporters have made public. These allegations have been presented by Armstrong as part of a broader critique of federal immigration enforcement and the government's response to protest.

In a written statement accompanying the arrest video, Armstrong said she had surrendered "peacefully, deliberately, and with intention," and that she demanded dignity, humanity and respect "not just for myself, but for every person who has ever been brutalized, silenced, or disappeared by unchecked government power." She added that the protest was motivated by concerns about families being separated, communities terrorized, and constitutional rights being trampled.

The case is likely to draw further attention as watchdogs, news organizations and the activists consider potential consequences for social media manipulation and the handling of protests that intersect with religious services.