Independent Minnesota journalist Georgia Fort and two other people were released from law enforcement custody Friday afternoon after Attorney General Pam Bondi said they were taken into custody over what Bondi says was a "coordinated attack" involving anti-ICE protests at Cities Church in St. Paul earlier this month.

“This is all stemming from the fact that I filmed a protest as a member of the media,” Fort said. “It’s hard to understand how we have a Constitution, constitutional rights, when you can just be arrested for being a member of the press.”

…

“It is an outrage that a vetted and credentialed member of the media would be in any way prosecuted for doing her appointed duty in covering news. If the federal government can come for Georgia no member of the supposed ‘free’ press is safe,” a representative for the Center for Broadcast Journalism said Friday morning. “Fort, who has been a frontline journalist in multiple media markets, is one of the more valued members of our Twin Cities media landscape. A three-time Emmy winner, Fort was one of the only reporters allowed inside the courtroom during the landmark trial of Derek Chauvin.”