St. Paul School Board Clerk Faces Federal Charges After Church Invasion, Post About White Christian Cemeteries Draws Scrutiny

What Happened

On January 30, 2026, protesters entered Cities Church in St. Paul while congregants were worshipping. Video footage, reviewed and reported by Alpha News and Breitbart News, shows demonstrators chanting 'ICE out! ICE out!' inside the building as adults and children scattered. One protester can be heard telling a worshipper, 'Your pastor's an ICE agent. Come join the black church. That's where you belong.'

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security later announced charges against two activists linked to the incident: Chauntyll Allen and Nekima Levy Armstrong. According to DHS, Allen was charged with conspiracy to deprive rights. Armstrong faces related charges. DHS released video of Allen after she was taken into custody, according to Breitbart News.

The Social Media Post

The renewed attention on Allen this week stems from a social media post in which she responded to news that Minneapolis officials are preparing to close a dog park to protect land described as sacred by Indigenous communities. Allen wrote: 'I dont get why we dont just make dog parks at White Christian cemeteries if white Christians are ok with it? This is a simple fix. Leave indigenous land sacred and piss on the white corpses.'

Alpha News first reported the post. The context is a real local policy dispute: city officials in Minneapolis have been weighing the closure of a dog park on land some Indigenous residents regard as sacred ground. Allen's argument, stripped of the inflammatory language, is that the city should prioritize Indigenous sacred land over White Christian burial sites. The framing she chose made the post impossible to separate from her pending federal case.

Still on the School Board

As of June 27, 2026, Allen remains listed as clerk on the Saint Paul Public Schools Board of Education website. No removal proceeding or administrative action has been publicly announced.

A sitting school board officer facing a federal felony charge, conspiracy to deprive rights, has not been suspended or removed. Whether Minnesota law or school board bylaws require or permit suspension pending resolution of charges is not addressed in available public statements from the board itself. The Saint Paul Public Schools Board has not issued a public response to Allen's charges or her social media post, at least not in any source available as of today.

The Strongest Counterargument

The most serious good-faith defense of Allen's position on the board rests on this: she has been charged, not convicted. Federal charges are allegations. The presumption of innocence is a foundational legal principle, and removing an elected official before trial based on charges alone sets a precedent that could be weaponized against any political figure facing a contested prosecution. Critics of the January church incident also argue that anti-ICE demonstrations, however disruptive, are a form of political protest with First Amendment protection, and that the line between protected protest and criminal deprivation of rights is genuinely contested legal ground.

The charge here is not a generic misdemeanor. Conspiracy to deprive rights, 18 U.S.C. § 241, is a federal felony. The factual record includes video of the church being stormed during active worship. The question for the school board is not whether Allen is guilty. It is whether a clerk facing that specific charge while still holding her post is consistent with the board's obligations to students and families. Those are separate questions, and the board has so far declined to address either one publicly.

What Rep. Elliott Engen Said

Minnesota State Rep. Elliott Engen (R-Lino Lakes) told Fox News that Allen 'has been engaged in Twin Cities politics for quite some time' and called for her to be 'convicted, prosecuted, taken off the school board, never allowed within 500 yards of a school again.' He also told Fox News that school boards across the Twin Cities have, in his view, become activist boards, pointing to state-mandated curriculum changes including comprehensive sex education from third through twelfth grade and what he described as ethnic studies equivalent to critical race theory in K-3 and above.

Engen's broader curriculum critique is a separate debate from Allen's charges and the specifics of the church incident. Conflating them, as some coverage does, obscures the legal accountability question that stands on its own.

Ilhan Omar's Involvement

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) shared photos on January 30 of a meeting with community leaders that included both Allen and Armstrong, according to Breitbart News. No source establishes that Omar had advance knowledge of the church incident or endorsed it. That connection has been reported as significant by right-leaning outlets but, as of this writing, no public statement from Omar addressing Allen's subsequent arrest has been published in available sources.

What Comes Next

The federal case against Allen and Armstrong is the most concrete thread to follow. 'Conspiracy to deprive rights' under 18 U.S.C. § 241 carries a base maximum sentence of ten years in prison. Enhanced penalties of up to twenty years — or life imprisonment, or death — apply if the offense results in death, kidnapping, aggravated sexual abuse, or attempted murder. The applicable sentencing range depends on how prosecutors characterize the conduct. No trial date has been reported in available sources as of June 27, 2026. The Saint Paul Public Schools Board of Education has not scheduled any public action on Allen's status.