Did the pastor in Minnesota work for ice
Executive summary
Reporting from multiple national and local outlets shows that a man named David Easterwood is listed as a pastor at Cities Church in St. Paul and strongly appears to be the same David Easterwood identified in ICE and Department of Homeland Security filings and public appearances as the acting field office director for ICE in the St. Paul/Minneapolis area [1] [2] [3]. Some outlets note caveats about definitive, independent personnel verification, but the preponderance of public records, court filings and on‑the‑record appearances link the pastor and the ICE official [4] [5] [6].
1. The core fact: name, listing and public records point to the same person
Cities Church’s website lists David Easterwood as one of its pastors, and multiple news organizations report that personal information on that church listing appears to match the name and identifying details used in ICE court filings where an acting St. Paul field office director named David Easterwood is listed as a defendant [1] [2] [6]. Outlets including AP, CNN, ABC and US News all cite that overlap between the church listing and court documents as the basis for protesters’ claim that a church pastor also serves as an ICE field office director [1] [2] [5] [7].
2. Public appearances and filings reinforce the connection
Beyond website listings, reporting points to public appearances and filings that reinforce the identification: Easterwood has been named routinely in DHS court filings related to Minnesota operations and is reported to have appeared as an ICE acting director on C‑SPAN and at public press events tied to DHS leadership, affirming his role in the agency’s local command structure [3] [6]. In a Jan. 5 court filing attributed to Easterwood, he defended specific ICE tactics used in Minnesota — language and attribution that outlets cite when describing him as an ICE official [1] [2].
3. Caveats and limits: independent verification and outlets’ caution
At least one local outlet noted it could not independently confirm that the acting field office director name and the pastor listing were the identical individual despite finding corroborating public records, and several reports phrase the link as “appears to match” rather than an unqualified statement of employment, reflecting standard journalistic caution around personnel records [4] [1]. Reporting therefore rests on a convergence of public-facing sources — church listing, court filings, media appearances — rather than on a single definitive personnel file released by ICE in these stories [4].
4. Why this mattered to protesters and federal authorities
The link triggered protests because Easterwood is named in litigation and publicly defended ICE tactics, and because activists tied ICE actions in Minnesota — including a high‑profile fatality and aggressive enforcement tactics — to local leadership they believe is accountable [2] [3]. The Department of Justice has since opened an investigation into the church disruption, and political figures and media outlets have framed the episode through competing lenses: civil‑rights activists arguing moral accountability, and federal officials emphasizing protection of houses of worship and enforcement of protest laws [1] [8] [6].
5. Conflicting narratives and possible agendas in coverage
Coverage variably emphasizes religious liberty and the sanctity of worship (conservative outlets), or the ethics of a pastor overseeing enforcement actions that activists view as harmful (progressive and racial‑justice outlets), reflecting competing agendas in how the story is told; some outlets also foreground the DOJ’s intent to press charges to shift focus from substance of ICE policy to legality of the protest action [9] [10] [1]. Reporting from Black Lives Matter Minnesota and allied activists centers accountability for ICE practices, while conservative commentary frames protesters as disrupting worship — both are documented in the mainstream coverage [3] [9].
6. Bottom line
Based on the available reporting, the responsible journalistic conclusion is that David Easterwood, who is listed as a pastor at Cities Church, is the same person who has been publicly identified in court filings and media appearances as the acting director of ICE’s St. Paul field office; outlets uniformly describe the match as strong though some note they could not obtain separate ICE personnel records to provide an independent, formal confirmation [1] [3] [4] [2].