The Department of Justice is signaling it may deploy heavy-handed legal statutes—typically reserved for organized crime—to dismantle the financial networks behind violent unrest. The warning comes days after anti-ICE demonstrators disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, an incident that has triggered a fierce response from top federal officials.
Alina Habba, a senior advisor to the DOJ, appeared on Fox & Friends Monday to deliver a stark message to those involved in the chaos: the federal government is watching, and it is ready to prosecute.
“The Department of Justice will look into whomever is funding this,” Habba stated, drawing a direct parallel to racketeering charges. “It’s no different than a RICO action. If you are funding mass protests… that are putting people at risk, not allowing people to go to church, this Department of Justice will come down on you.”
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The controversy stems from a recent confrontation where protesters, opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, entered a St. Paul church to confront a pastor they accused of collaborating with immigration authorities. The move has been characterized by federal officials not just as a protest, but as an infringement on religious liberty.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has reportedly taken a hardline stance, asserting that “attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians” will face the “full force of federal law.” Bondi’s office emphasized that if state and local leaders fail to quell the “lawlessness,” the DOJ is prepared to step in with federal charges.
Habba elaborated on the legal tools at the department’s disposal, specifically citing the FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act). While often associated with abortion clinics, the statute also prohibits force, threats, or physical obstruction intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with anyone lawfully exercising their religious freedom at a place of worship.
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“Our Civil Rights Division will come down hard on anybody who tries to impede or intimidate somebody in a place of worship,” Habba said.
The DOJ advisor also took aim at local leadership in St. Paul, criticizing the mayor’s response to the demonstrations. She dismissed defenses that the protesters were merely “speaking up peacefully” for their neighbors, arguing instead that such rhetoric ignores the hostility being created on the ground.
The crackdown represents a significant shift in how the federal government plans to address civil unrest, moving beyond arresting individual agitators to potentially targeting the organizational and financial structures supporting them.
With the DOJ invoking the FACE Act and floating the possibility of RICO-style investigations, the administration is making it clear that the disruption of religious services and attacks on law enforcement will now carry severe federal consequences.
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