‘Agents are at my door’: Journalist Georgia Fort films moments before being arrested over anti-ICE protest coverage

Independent journalist Georgia Fort, who was detained on Friday morning after covering an anti-ICE protest in Minnesota, shared the moment on a social media live stream.

Fort was one of several journalists who filmed a demonstration at Cities Church in St Paul's on January 18, which saw protestors interrupting a service and chanting, “ICE OUT.”




Fort shared a video on her Facebook page with the caption: “Agents are at my door.” In it, she said she knew she would be targeted after filming the protest at Cities Church in St. Paul earlier this month.

“We are supposed to have our Constitutional right of the freedom to film, to be a member of the press. I don't feel like I have my First Amendment right as a member of the press,” Fort said in the video.



In the video, Fort said federal agents at her door told her they secured a warrant for her arrest after being able to secure one from a grand jury sometime in the past 24 hours. She said she understood she would be taken to the Whipple Building, a federal building in Minneapolis.

“My children are here, they’re impacted by this,” she said. “This is all stemming from the fact that I filmed a protest as a member of the media.”

Fort said she did not have much time before agents could be heard demanding she come to the door, and the video ended abruptly.



The arrest of Fort and former CNN anchor Don Lemon sparked outrage on Friday, with fellow reporters and several lawmakers raising concerns about First Amendment rights and whether the Trump administration was ignoring these.

The White House framed the protest as an infringement of churchgoers’ rights to practise religion and launched a civil rights investigation into the events nearly two weeks ago.

Fort’s attorney, Leita Walker, said the journalist was arrested at her home in St. Paul at about 6 a.m. on Friday and was scheduled to make her initial court appearance on Friday afternoon.

“We expect her to be released at that time,” Walker told Newsweek early Friday, declining further comment.