Former CNN anchor and independent journalist Don Lemon has been arrested by federal authorities in connection with an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a church service in Minnesota. Lemon says he was present strictly as a journalist, documenting events and live streaming the demonstration rather than participating in it. The arrest follows earlier court rulings that rejected prosecutors’ attempts to bring charges, citing a lack of probable cause. Despite those setbacks, federal authorities later pursued alternative procedures leading to Lemon’s detention in Los Angeles.  

In a White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt erupted at a reporter over questions about ICE and a recent fatal shooting in Minneapolis, thrusting immigration enforcement back into the national spotlight. The confrontation occurred on Jan 15, 2026, when Niall Stanage of The Hill pressed Leavitt on the administration’s defense of ICE agents following the Jan 7 killing of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old American woman shot by an ICE agent during an enforcement operation in Minneapolis. Stanage cited troubling statistics about deaths in ICE custody and wrongful detentions, asking how these figures squared with claims that federal agents are “doing everything correctly”. WATCH