Pastor condemns federal surveillance of Twin Cities churches as unholy and un-American

G. Travis Norvell, who leads Judson Memorial Baptist Church in Minneapolis and teaches at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, wrote an MS NOW column exposing court documents that reveal the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge included monitoring of multiple Twin Cities churches. The filings show University Baptist Church believed it was shielded by a February ruling that barred warrantless surveillance, yet federal agents still gathered information.

At Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, an undercover officer attended an ICE-protest meeting, logged license-plate numbers and linked them to social-media accounts to build dossiers. The administration defended the actions by saying they occurred outside worship services, a justification Norvell called both “unholy” and “comical” given the dramatic drop in mainline Protestant affiliation since the 1970s. He argued the spying likely uncovered congregants shocked by government actions and churches facing financial strain, while also sparking a wave of charitable outreach and advocacy for immigrants across the region.