Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen, who were arrested and charged for their role in an anti-ICE demonstration that disrupted Sunday church services in St Paul, Minnesota, have been released.
Video of the two women posted online showed them emerging from detention on Friday, raising their fists and embracing their loved ones. “Thank you all for being here,” Levy Armstrong said. “Glory to God!”
A federal judge ordered their release, ruling that the government had failed “to meet its burden to demonstrate that a detention hearing is warranted, or that detention is otherwise appropriate”.
A judge has also ordered the released of a third activist involved in the church protest, William Kelley, saying he was not a danger to the public, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
On Thursday, the White House was caught posting a digitally altered image of Levy Armstrong’s arrest on social media, which had been manipulated to falsely portray her as crying, and to darken her skin.
The photo was captioned in all caps: “Arrested far-left agitator Nekima Levy Armstrong for orchestrating church riots in Minnesota.”
The deception was uncovered by the Guardian and other news outlets, in part because the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, had earlier posted the original image which showed Levy Armstrong looking composed.
On Friday, the Associated Press reported, Levy Armstrong released her own video of her arrest recorded by her husband, Marques Armstrong, which further revealed the extent to which the White House had distorted reality to fabricate propaganda intended to embarrass her.
According to a transcription of the video from the AP, Levy Armstrong had even asked the agents why they were recording her detention.
“I’m asking you to please treat me with dignity and respect,” she said to the agents.
“We have to put you in handcuffs,” one agent said, while another held up a phone and appeared to record a video.
“Why are you recording?” Levy Armstrong asked. “I would ask that you not record.”
“It’s not going to be on Twitter,” the agent filming said. “It’s not going to be on anything like that.”
“We don’t want to create a false narrative,” the agent said.
At no point in the more than seven-minute video – which shows Levy Armstrong being handcuffed and led into a government vehicle – did Levy Armstrong appear to cry. Instead, she talked with agents about her arrest.
“You know that this is a significant abuse of power,” she said. “Because I refuse to be silent in the face of brutality from ICE.”
“I’m not in here to get in a political debate,” the agent filming said.
In an audio message Levy Armstrong’s spokesperson shared with the Associated Press, Levy Armstrong said the video of her arrest exposes that the Trump administration had used AI to manipulate images of her arrest.
“We are being politically persecuted for speaking out against authoritarianism, fascism and the tyranny of the Trump administration,” said Levy Armstrong, who recorded the message on Friday morning during a call with her husband from jail.
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