Ian Austin, a 36-year-old resident of Bryn Athyn and a U.S. Army veteran, is a codefendant in a federal case for protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement inside Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Austin, a Huntingdon Valley native, reportedly drove from his home to Minnesota after watching Renee Nicole Good’s fatal shooting in January. He will return to Minneapolis for hearings this week and expects to have his case dismissed. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison, The Inquirer said.

Austin and former CNN anchor Don Lemon are among the 38 codefendants facing felony charges over the protest, each of which is charged with violating the Civil Rights Act of 1871 and the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The following was published by Austin’s attorney:

From the outset, the defense challenged the sufficiency of the indictment as applied to Mr. Austin. The case presented significant constitutional and statutory questions, including: whether the indictment: (1) alleged facts sufficient to establish specific intent, a required element of the charged offenses; (2) expressive or protest activity, without force, threats, or physical obstruction, falls within the narrow scope of the FACE Act; (3) individualized criminal liability was adequately pleaded, as required in multi-defendant federal indictments. The defense emphasized that federal criminal charges must be supported by concrete factual allegations, not broad characterizations or guilt by association.

​Mr. Austin was released from custody and remains at liberty while the case proceeds. He has no finding of guilt and continues to contest the charges. The matter remains in a pretrial posture, with legal challenges directed at the adequacy of the government’s charging instrument rather than disputed facts.

His case has been covered by multiple national news organizations, including The New York Times, CBS News, NBC News, MPR News, Mother Jones, and others.

According to a federal indictment, Austin and other protesters “approached the pastor and congregants in a menacing manner, and near the end of the operation, loudly berated the pastor with questions about Christian nationalism and Christians wanting their faith to be the law of the land.”

From The Inquirer’s coverage:

The DOJ indictment says that inside the church, Austin was part of a group of “approximately 20-40 agitators” who were part of a “coordinated takeover-style attack and engaged in acts of oppression, intimidation, threats, interference, and physical obstruction.”

Protesters shouted “ICE Out!” “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!” and other chants, the document states, “while gesturing in an aggressive and hostile manner, which congregants and the pastor perceived as threats of violence and a potential prelude to a mass shooting.”

Austin and others interfered with churchgoers’ ability to move freely, the indictment says, and Austin “approached the pastor and congregants in a menacing manner … and loudly berated the pastor with questions about Christian nationalism and Christians wanting to have their faith be the law of the land.”

The protesters said they targeted the church because one of its pastors, David Easterwood, leads the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) St. Paul field office. In a video from January, Austin said he believed it was his duty to travel to Minnesota.

“We’re turning into something that I can’t even begin to respect, and something that I literally went to war—or they told me I went to war—to fight against,” Austin said in the video.

Austin was also charged with disorderly conduct in June after protesting ICE near the Delaney Hall detention center in New Jersey. In 2021, Austin pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and fighting after refusing to leave a local bar, The Inquirer said.

On January 22, the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights & Expression (FIRE) posted an article titled “Anti-ICE protesters disrupted worship in a Minnesota church. Here’s why the First Amendment doesn’t protect their actions.”

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Screengrab: Youtube | Photo: FIRE