The charges against the two journalists trace back to January 18. That Sunday, a group of Minnesota activists organized a demonstration interrupting services at a Southern Baptist church whose pastor reportedly works as the acting director of an ICE field office. Lemon interviewed activists before the protests, livestreaming news coverage on his YouTube channel, and both he and Fort filmed the protest from inside Cities Church. Again and again during the livestream, Lemon explained that he was there as a reporter, not an activist. Similarly, in an Instagram post after the protest, Georgia Fort emphasized, “My job as a journalist is to document what’s happening.”