On Thursday (January 22), the Trump administration boasted of its arrests of several demonstrators at a church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. And in a move that has become a signature of Trump’s second term in office, they released a photo online of one of the protest leaders while in federal custody – a photo which was found to be digitally altered to show her openly crying.
The photo was of Nekima Levy Armstrong, a lawyer and activist who Attorney General Pam Bondi announced was arrested along with two other activists, Chauntyll Louisa Allen and William Kelly. A fourth person, Monique Cullars Doty turned herself in to federal authorities that morning. “Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP,” she wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“I was there when they arrested her, and she definitely wasn’t crying — she was calm, rational, and dignified,” Armstrong’s attorney Jonathan Kushner said of the altered photo, adding: “This is part and parcel of a fascist regime where they literally invent reality to serve their fascist agenda.”
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Armstrong and the other Twin Cities activists were present at the Southern Baptist Cities Church in St. Paul last Sunday (January 18), protesting a pastor by the name of David Easterwood. Easterwood is reportedly the acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in the city, which has elicited a firestorm of protest after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent earlier this month.
In response to CNN’s Daniel Dale, a spokesperson for the White House confirmed the manipulation of the photo, stating: “Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue.” That would be repeated in another post on X, formerly Twitter by Kaelan Dorr, with White House Deputy Secretary Abigail Jackson mocking those critical of the AI-doctored photo in another post.
The White House has released AI-manipulated imagery before, more recently of crying migrants being deported, and have taken to attacking critics in the same brash manner of Trump. As for Armstrong, she called for Easterwood to resign citing a “fundamental moral conflict” in his role. “You cannot lead a congregation while directing an agency whose actions have cost lives and inflicted fear in our communities,” she said.
