DOJ ‘going after’ criminals who vandalized, torched churches

A leading Trump administration attorney says the U.S. Department of Justice dismissed several cases against pro-life activists filed by the Biden administration and vowed to prosecute perpetrators responsible for vandalizing churches and pro-life pregnancy centers in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. 

In an appearance on “The Glenn Beck Podcast” Saturday, Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon identified protecting “the rights of people of faith throughout the United States, whether they’re in federal agencies or not” as one of the key aspects of the Trump administration’s agenda. 

Dhillon also discussed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and how it is “supposed to protect people going into abortion facilities from violence.” The legislation in question subjects anyone who “intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with any person” seeking to provide or obtain “reproductive health services” to federal charges. 

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Dhillon contends that the legislation has not fulfilled its intended purpose.

“The only violence being done in recent years is to the law and to the rights of speech and of prayer of people of faith who want to pray, which is in their entire First Amendment right, outside abortion facilities,” she said. 

“Those elderly and young Americans have been arrested and persecuted by the Biden DOJ. One of the first things that was done under the new administration was to dismiss multiple cases. Cases in Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Ohio have been dismissed.” 

Dhillon vowed: “We are not going to be pursuing these FACE Act cases other than in extraordinary circumstances involving death, serious bodily harm or extreme property damage.” Dhillon maintained that “none of the recent cases have any of those fact patterns.” 

Host Glenn Beck asked Dhillon if she could use the FACE Act to “get the people that are firebombing or doing harm on the other side,” referring to the wave of violence directed at pro-life pregnancy centers following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organizationdecision that determined that the U.S. Constitution does not contain a right to abortion.

“Facilities … involving prenatal care are protected by the FACE Act and so we will be aggressively going after” the perpetrators of such crimes, Dhillon responded. “There were more than 200 incidents in the last few years of those kinds of facilities where people were counseled about their choices, about adoption, about keeping the baby. Those facilities have been violently attacked by activists with no action by law enforcement, federal or state.” 

Aside from a group of pro-abortion activists responsible for vandalizing pro-life pregnancy centers in Florida, prosecution of perpetrators behind most other attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and churches has been relatively muted. 

“We will be going after those cases because every woman has a right to go into those facilities and get fair, open and even in some cases, religiously inflected advice about their choices with respect to the baby that they are growing in their bodies,” Dhillon said. 

Beck lamented the violence and vandalism that broke out following the Dobbs decision also impacted churches, saying that the perpetrators “never seem to go to jail.” Dhillon pushed back: “We actually have won prosecutions of firebombings of churches in recent weeks and the Civil Rights Division, our criminal section, has done a tremendous job going after that.” 

Dhillon stressed that the DOJ “has a zero-tolerance policy for violence or intimidation against any person of faith in the United States that prevents them from getting an education, worshiping freely, enjoying the right to [go to] a church, mosque, temple, gurdwara and use that appropriately within federal law.”

“We venerate religion in our country, in our Bill of Rights. It is a founding basis of our country, and we’re very, very committed to it,” she said. 

During the interview, Dhillon also described a meeting of cabinet members, explaining that “many of them came and told tales of persecution happening in the ranks of the federal government.”

She pointed to the “Department of Defense dismissing thousands of brave soldiers for refusing to take a vaccine shot that was not necessary for them in their opinion and violated their religious principles” as an example of such persecution. She stated that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has “invited those folks back.” 

A leading Trump administration attorney says the U.S. Department of Justice dismissed several cases against pro-life activists filed by the Biden administration and vowed to prosecute perpetrators responsible for vandalizing churches and pro-life pregnancy centers in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. 

In an appearance on “The Glenn Beck Podcast” Saturday, Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon identified protecting “the rights of people of faith throughout the United States, whether they’re in federal agencies or not” as one of the key aspects of the Trump administration’s agenda. 

Dhillon also discussed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and how it is “supposed to protect people going into abortion facilities from violence.” The legislation in question subjects anyone who “intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with any person” seeking to provide or obtain “reproductive health services” to federal charges. 

Get Our Latest News for FREE

Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.

Dhillon contends that the legislation has not fulfilled its intended purpose.

“The only violence being done in recent years is to the law and to the rights of speech and of prayer of people of faith who want to pray, which is in their entire First Amendment right, outside abortion facilities,” she said. 

“Those elderly and young Americans have been arrested and persecuted by the Biden DOJ. One of the first things that was done under the new administration was to dismiss multiple cases. Cases in Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Ohio have been dismissed.” 

Dhillon vowed: “We are not going to be pursuing these FACE Act cases other than in extraordinary circumstances involving death, serious bodily harm or extreme property damage.” Dhillon maintained that “none of the recent cases have any of those fact patterns.” 

Host Glenn Beck asked Dhillon if she could use the FACE Act to “get the people that are firebombing or doing harm on the other side,” referring to the wave of violence directed at pro-life pregnancy centers following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organizationdecision that determined that the U.S. Constitution does not contain a right to abortion.

“Facilities … involving prenatal care are protected by the FACE Act and so we will be aggressively going after” the perpetrators of such crimes, Dhillon responded. “There were more than 200 incidents in the last few years of those kinds of facilities where people were counseled about their choices, about adoption, about keeping the baby. Those facilities have been violently attacked by activists with no action by law enforcement, federal or state.” 

Aside from a group of pro-abortion activists responsible for vandalizing pro-life pregnancy centers in Florida, prosecution of perpetrators behind most other attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and churches has been relatively muted. 

“We will be going after those cases because every woman has a right to go into those facilities and get fair, open and even in some cases, religiously inflected advice about their choices with respect to the baby that they are growing in their bodies,” Dhillon said. 

Beck lamented the violence and vandalism that broke out following the Dobbs decision also impacted churches, saying that the perpetrators “never seem to go to jail.” Dhillon pushed back: “We actually have won prosecutions of firebombings of churches in recent weeks and the Civil Rights Division, our criminal section, has done a tremendous job going after that.” 

Dhillon stressed that the DOJ “has a zero-tolerance policy for violence or intimidation against any person of faith in the United States that prevents them from getting an education, worshiping freely, enjoying the right to [go to] a church, mosque, temple, gurdwara and use that appropriately within federal law.”

“We venerate religion in our country, in our Bill of Rights. It is a founding basis of our country, and we’re very, very committed to it,” she said. 

During the interview, Dhillon also described a meeting of cabinet members, explaining that “many of them came and told tales of persecution happening in the ranks of the federal government.”

She pointed to the “Department of Defense dismissing thousands of brave soldiers for refusing to take a vaccine shot that was not necessary for them in their opinion and violated their religious principles” as an example of such persecution. She stated that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has “invited those folks back.”