Montgomery County man freed from jail after Minnesota church ICE protest arrest

The Montgomery County man arrested for protesting ICE at a church in Minnesota has been released from jail, according to Mother Jones.

The U.S. Department of Justice had indicted Ian Austin for allegedly participating in a demonstration at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota last month.

Austin and eight other people are charged with felonies for disrupting a church service at Cities Church in St. Paul on Jan. 18. Two journalists who covered the demonstration — Don Lemon and Georgia Fort — are also among the defendants.

The federal government has alleged that 20-40 “agitators” conducted an “attack” on the church, engaging in “oppression, intimidation, threats, interference, and physical obstruction.”

Austin, reportedly a former Army Ranger, was booked at Sherburne County Jail on Jan. 30, according to county records.

He has since been released without conditions, Mother Jones reported on Feb. 2.

In a video of Austin’s arrest on Friday, he alleges that the government sought him out because of the viral video.

“They’re targeting me because I had 2.5 million streams yesterday,” Austin said as federal agents put him in the back of a black SUV.

Austin is a 35-year-old from Bryn Athyn, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. He attended Academy of the New Church high school, his parents told the newspaper.

Austin described a prior arrest for protesting ICE in Minneapolis to a reporter, after which Austin said he was shackled for hours.

During his detention, Austin said, federal agents asked him how someone from Philadelphia ended up in Minnesota.

Austin, who said in the video he weathered six combat deployments to Afghanistan, cited his military service as an answer to that question.

“We took an oath to the Constitution, and that’s just being shredded right now,” Austin said in the video. “This has all of the signs from every fascist movement in history that we’re going to lose the opportunity to resist.”