Hours after Georgia Fort, the Minnesota chapter Vice President of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), was arrested in connection with her chronicling an anti-ICE protest at a St. Paul church earlier this month, she has been released from police custody.
Video of her reunion with her eldest daughter and supporters was captured by Fox 9. Onlookers cheered for Fort as she embraced her family and supporters before the crowd quickly pointed out law enforcement arriving on the scene.
Early Friday morning (Jan. 30), Fort took to social media to inform the world that she had federal agents at her door, planning to arrest her. She, along with former CNN anchor Don Lemon, Black Lives Matter Minnesota co-founder Trahern Jean Crews and community activist Jamael Lundy, was arrested for filming and recording the protest inside a St. Paul area church on Jan. 18, where the church’s main pastor is allegedly an ICE agent.
“I wanted to alert the public that agents are at my door right now. They’re saying that they were able to go before a grand jury sometime, I guess, in the last 24 hours, and that they have a warrant for my arrest. I’ve talked to my attorney, and I’m being advised to go with them,” Fort told her followers. “My children are here. They are impacted by this.”
Fort obeyed her attorney’s command and surrendered without incident.
During a news conference on Friday, Fort’s 17-year-old daughter condemned the arrest, saying her mother was arrested for “doing her job.”
“My mom is being arrested for documenting what happened at Cities Church. And this is wrong. This goes against her First Amendment right as a journalist. And it’s being challenged today.”
“She is not a protester. She is not an activist,” she said. “She is a mom working to provide for her children through the only way she knows how, documenting and sharing stories of the community and the truth of what’s happening here every day in our state.”
“My 7- and 8-year old sister woke up today without a mom. My father woke up today without his wife. I’m demanding that my mom gets released,” she added.
Lemon was due in court on Friday for his first court appearance. Despite gloating from the White House X account and the DOJ, it remains unclear what the four individuals were arrested for or what charges they may face.
