By Stella Henretta

Protesters stood inside a crowded church, united in belief as several individuals recorded the event. Churchgoers steadily filtered out of the place of worship, the phrase “ICE out” lingering behind them. Protesters yelled the name “Renee Good,” which echoed off the walls of the church — a tribute to a life lived and lost. 

On Jan. 18, several anti-ICE protesters disrupted a service at a Minnesota church, where one of the pastors is allegedly the acting director of the St. Paul Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office. Former CNN journalist Don Lemon, independent journalist Georgia Fort and seven other protesters were charged with conspiracy against the rights of religious freedom and an attempt to injure while exercising religious freedom.

Lucy Dalglish, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, said Lemon and Fort are guilty of trespassing, not the charges issued against them. Dalglish explained that a church is considered private property, and Minnesota’s local trespass laws state that if someone is asked to leave private property for any reason, they must comply. Her understanding is that when the journalists were asked to leave, they left.

“Ordinarily, this would be a local trespass violation,” Dalglish said. “If the church was holding that service in a public park, I don’t think [authorities would] have a leg to stand on. What’s really going to matter in this case was the fact that it was private property and in a church.”

First Amendment

Kevin Goldberg, vice president and First Amendment expert at the Freedom Forum, said the indictments have created the illusion that Lemon and Fort’s arrests are conflicts between the First Amendment rights of freedom of the press and freedom of religion. But Goldberg said he does not see a strong claim to a First Amendment right for Lemon, as anyone who enters private property immediately loses their right to freedom of the press.

“Journalists are not exempt from laws of general applicability, like trespass or the breach of peace and disorderly conduct,” Goldberg said. “Of course, these are not the things that Don Lemon or the other journalist are being charged with.”

But Goldberg emphasized that the journalists’ actions did not meet the necessary criteria for the crimes they were charged with.

“As journalists doing their jobs, [Lemon and Fort] were not conspiring in any way for purposes of the first statute,” Goldberg said. “They weren’t coordinating or furthering the actions of the protesters. They weren’t doing anything to enhance the protest, to participate in the protest, to advance the protest.”

“I think the recent journalists’ arrests are symbolic of this administration’s efforts to muzzle the press through intimidation and by pushing the law, in this case the First Amendment, beyond its limits,” said Dana Priest, UMD Knight Chair in Public Affairs Journalism.

Priest believes all presidential administrations learn to hate the press, but said that the current administration’s approach to journalists has gone too far.

“What Donald Trump is doing in claiming that [journalists] are the enemy is he’s trying to make the public not trust real reporting,” Priest said. “He has his own set of lies and misinformation that he wants people to believe, and he doesn’t want to have competitors like the media.”

Chase Cook, an adjunct lecturer for the journalism college, also believes that the current administration is taking actions that target journalists. Cook said the federal government’s reaction to Lemon and Fort’s arrests was inappropriate.

“This is a very concerning arrest because what the administration is showing us is that they’d rather try to censor the reporters than work with them,” Cook said. “It’s very obvious that the administration is taking a much heavier hand on this in an effort to show people that they’re going to punish them for speaking out.”

Josh Hananel, a freshman journalism major, is among several journalism students who have similar opinions to Priest and Cook. Hananel said the Trump administration’s response to journalists is increasingly dubious.

“This arrest of multiple journalists is an outright example of more intimidation and injustice,” Hananel said. “In hindsight, a journalist being arrested is the next step in the continuation of democratic backsliding.”

Distrust in the media

Freshman journalism major Lina Nam agreed with Hananel, adding that there is the threat of the public losing further trust in the media.

“As a journalism student, I think Don Lemon’s recent arrest is concerning, as situations involving media figures can quickly become politicized and impact public trust in news institutions,” Nam said. “I also believe that the current administration’s response to journalists plays a significant role in shaping public perception, as rhetoric that undermines the press can contribute to increasing skepticism.”

Following Lemon’s and Fort’s arrests, journalism students have questioned public perceptions of journalism and whether they should be afraid to pursue a career in the field. Many students, like Nam, are trying to remain optimistic.

“Some see [journalism] as essential to democracy, while others question its credibility. Despite these challenges, I think the future of journalism will increasingly center on transparency and rebuilding trust through true accountability,” Nam said. “I choose to stay passionate about pursuing journalism because I believe ethical reporting is more important than ever.”

Hananel maintains hope that journalists will stay true to their values and stresses that the point of journalism is to elucidate the truth.

“I think the public’s perception of journalism will become more divided as people of all party affiliations grow disillusioned with traditional mass media, but I feel journalists will always have a level of respect for truth seeking,” Hananel said. “The concerns I have about pursuing journalism in a time when it’s possible for them to be arbitrarily arrested doesn’t make me want to stop because the alternative is giving in to a flawed system.”

About 56% of U.S. adults say they have a lot of or some trust in the information they consume from national news organizations — an 11% decrease from March 2025, according to Pew Research Center. Priest attributes this drop to journalists typically reporting on things that don’t affect the average person. She also points to President Trump, who she believes continues to convince the public that journalists are the enemy.

“For those two reasons, I think [journalists] really need to question what they cover and how they cover things, and they have to keep fighting back against the president’s efforts to undercut them,” Priest said. “Journalists’ role is to tell people what’s actually occurring, and if we don’t have enough good [journalists], people won’t know what’s happening and it will be easier for the government, of all things, to lie, to corrupt and to oppress people like they’re doing in Minnesota and get away with it.”

Although Goldberg reiterated that Lemon and Fort had no First Amendment right to enter the church, he worries about the implications of their arrests. 

“My main concern is not First Amendment rights in particular now, or in this case that the First Amendment is violated, but what the repercussions might be in the future for journalists who want to cover these issues, especially where federal law enforcement authorities are present,” Goldberg said.

Cook reminds student journalists that social media provides an opportunity to rebuild trust with individuals, meeting people where they are.

“The audience wants news, but they don’t always show up to read it, so it’s [journalists’] responsibility to make it interesting enough to do so,” Cook said.

Priest agreed journalists need to strive to make their writing appealing to people and called on young journalists to address this issue.

“I think there will always be a need for new journalists, especially now, because they are the ones that have to create the new kind of journalism that will get the attention of this generation,” Priest said. “That’s one of the big problems. This generation and the generation before don’t find how we do journalism to be attractive, so you have to solve this problem.”

Featured Image: Knight Hall, home to students and faculty at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Photo by Miller Rogers-Tetrick.