NEW YORK—According to news reports, the federal government arrested journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, last night and this morning respectively, for their reporting on an anti-ICE protest that took place earlier this month at a Minneapolis church. The Knight Institute calls on the Department of Justice to drop the prosecutions. 

The following can be attributed to Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

“The Justice Department’s arrest of journalists reporting on anti-ICE protests is extremely alarming, especially given that multiple judges refused to approve arrest warrants just last week. Reporting on protests isn’t a crime—it’s protected by the First Amendment. The Justice Department should drop these prosecutions, or the courts should throw them out. We are especially concerned about these arrests because they take place against the background of a broader effort by the Trump administration to tighten the vise around press freedom.”

For more information, contact: Adriana Lamirande, [email protected].