Ian Austin, the Army veteran who was arrested in Minneapolis on Friday by federal agents for participating in an anti-ICE protest, has been released without conditions.
Austin was featured in a viral Mother Jones video last week in which he was protesting outside the Whipple Federal Building, where ICE is based and detainees are held. “When they say, ‘Why would you be out here?’ How the fuck could I not be out here?” he said at the time. “My nation is under attack.”
Austin was one of nine defendants, including journalist Don Lemon, who were taken into custody for participating in or reporting on a demonstration last month at a St. Paul church where a local ICE official serves as a pastor. They face federal charges, including for interfering with religious freedom in a place of worship.
The arrests have alarmed free speech advocates, who say the protesters were peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights.


