by
Tarik Kiley
The journalist Don Lemon was arrested recently in Los Angeles and charged with federal civil rights violations after covering a protest against immigration enforcement, where the protest took place in a Minnesota Church. While another independent journalist and two protestors were arrested as well, Don Lemon’s arrest is particularly poignant because of his high profile in the journalist community. This is also interesting because the pastor of the Minnesota church where the protest took place is also a member of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
ICE is at the top of President Donald Trump’s agenda. Immigration enforcement is the number one most visible policy of President Trump’s administration. So, then it follows that, given his dictatorial leanings, he would arrest anyone criticizing ICE. Had the pastor of that Minnesota church not been a member of ICE, you can wonder whether such a heavy-handed response, such as arresting a high-profile journalist, would have occurred.
The federal government is framing the arrest as based on a violation of freedom of worship. Whether this applies is questionable, as Don Lemon made it clear that he was at the protest as a journalist, not an activist. So, it could be argued that Mr. Lemon had no political motivation for being present at the protest and was simply covering it as any journalist would.
But the news that Mr. Lemon was reporting could have been potentially harmful to the image of ICE and President Trump. So, this was evidently a political arrest to silence any criticism of the Trump regime. This could be inferred because President Trump has continually been dismissive and hostile toward reporters with whom he disagrees or who ask questions he doesn’t want asked.
The First Amendment is at play here, but it is not this selective interpretation of it, which led to Don Lemon’s arrest. The First Amendment protection of free speech is at question here. Mr. Lemon was reporting news that could potentially hurt President Trump and ICE’s image in the public eye. So, President Trump wanted to silence that speech.
According to ala.org, “One of the ten amendments of the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment gives everyone residing in the United States the right to hear all sides of every issue and to make their own judgments about those issues without government interference or limitations.” So, the idea here is that Mr. Lemon was not working to interfere with Christians’ worship. Instead, he was exploring a side of an issue that was ultimately unfavorable to President Trump.
Ala.org continues to say, “The right to speak and the right to publish under the First Amendment has been interpreted widely to protect individuals and society from government attempts to suppress ideas and information, and to forbid government censorship of books, magazines, and newspapers as well as art, film, music, and materials on the internet. The Supreme Court and other courts have held conclusively that there is a First Amendment right to receive information as a corollary to the right to speak.” So, journalists have a right to speak and report the news, particularly when their motive is only to report the news and express various sides of an issue. Just because the argument is distasteful to those in power doesn’t mean journalists can be censored or news suppressed.
Works Cited
Words and Movements 
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