By SUZANNE DOWNING
Anchorage Democratic congressional candidate Matt Schultz is hosting an immigration-enforcement resistance training session this weekend at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Anchorage, adding another political flashpoint to his long-running activism against federal immigration authorities.
The event, scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 17, at 1 pm is advertised as a training on “how to stay safe around aggressive immigration enforcement.” Schultz has invited immigration attorney Asa Hohman to lead the session.
Schultz is running for Congress against incumbent Congressman Nick Begich. Schultz’ campaign has focused heavily on opposing federal immigration policies, criticizing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and promoting what he calls sanctuary-style protections for immigrants.
First Presbyterian Church, where Schultz serves as pastor, has increasingly functioned as a hub for progressive political organizing. Schultz, who moved to Alaska from New York, has built a national profile as an activist pastor aligned with pro-abortion groups, LGBTQ organizations, and movements opposing what he describes as “Christian nationalism.”
Last summer, Schultz was one of the organizers of Anchorage’s “No Kings” protests, a nationwide movement targeting conservative and pro-Trump political causes. During those rallies, First Presbyterian Church invited demonstrators to leave protest signs on the church lawn. Schultz and volunteers later removed the wooden stakes from the signs and delivered the placards to the Anchorage office of US Sen. Dan Sullivan as a form of political protest.
The upcoming training is being promoted as a legal education session for people concerned about encounters with ICE agents. Attorney Asa Hohman, who practices immigration law in Anchorage, is expected to explain legal rights and options for individuals who may be subject to immigration enforcement actions.
Schultz has been an outspoken critic of ICE, often accusing the agency of operating in ways that he says intimidate immigrant communities. While there is nothing illegal about providing legal information or holding educational events, critics have raised concerns that such trainings can blur the line between explaining rights and actively encouraging resistance to federal law enforcement.
Organizers have not publicly released details about the specific curriculum or materials that will be used in Saturday’s session.
The event yet again demonstrates how Schultz is using his church and political campaign in a way that seems increasingly intertwined.
36 thoughts on “Anchorage congressional candidate Schultz hosting anti-ICE training at his downtown church”
Thank you Shultz!
Protecting illegals rather then your own, written by a foreigner who thinks they have a say in our country. Go back to India. You are not welcome here.
Micah. What part of India do you think I am from? It’s possible that I am the son of Pakistani immigrants American citizens or that I changed my name from Smith to Singh to fit in with my wife’s culture. You make the mistake of poorly educated conservatives: you make connections where there are none. You require very little of your intellect to reach a conclusion. One of my degrees is in philosophy with an emphasis on the way humans make decisions. I enjoy your conclusions about me and politics.
Evan, Renee Good parked her car sideways in the road specifically for the purpose of blocking ICE agents. Driving away?? Shots were fired through the windshield. The windshield is on the front of the car. The car HIT the ICE agent. Obviously not hard enough to kill him, but he did suffer internal bleeding. So, yes, the response was completely predictable. ICE is not in Minneapolis to harass anyone. They are there to arrest, detain and process people who are in our country illegally. Were you outraged when you heard about Rachel Morin? Jocelyn Nungary? Laken Riley? They died as a result of the previous administration’s policies of leaving our borders completely unprotected and flying in planeload after planeload after busload of unvetted illegals. You have no legitimate reason to hate on the people who have been sent in to clean up that mess.
John. You’ve been embarrassingly fooled. Your willingness to suspend reason and evidence in support of the end of democracy reveals profound gullibility.
Fooled? How exactly ? What evidence? You haven’t mentioned. Reason? Go ahead, I’ll wait. You are completely correct about one thing: I absolutely support the end of “democracy”. This country was NOT founded as a democracy. Our founding fathers very well knew that democracy, for all practical purposes, amounts to nothing more than mob rule.
Yeah, anti-ICE training worked out really well for Renee Good. Still, the more leftys who self-select out of the gene pool, the better, I suppose. Still a hard way to go. Let me introduce you guys to your new BFF, FAFO. You are in the FA portion of the festivities. Cheers –
A gimarc. Are you suggesting that Renee Good’s murder was her fault?
Not murder, but yes Renee Nicole Good’s unfortunate death was completely her own fault. She was an adult who made the conscious decision to block a public road for the purpose of physically interfering with law enforcement
agents, which resulted in a convoluted situation, eliciting a predictably physical response from those agents.
John. She was driving away. Driving away from the ICE murderer. That is not ” physically interfering with law enforcement agents”. But even if she was interfering, was her crime worth her death? Is shooting three or four bullets into her vehicle a “PREDICTABLY physical response from those agents?
ICE exists in MN to intimidate, harass, injure, detain and arrest American citizens. Trump’s “worst of the worst” target was a ruse. What’s happening now is clear domestic terrorism. Their presence and tactics are exactly what the Right wing predicted 50 years ago would happen if democrats came into power. Democrats are not in power yet unidentified, masked, overweaponized, hateful, violent goons are stopping Americans at checkpoints, asking for papers, and physically attacking, detaining, arresting, deporting and killing us.
ICE raid!!! Coming to church service soon. Pull out your hymnals and let the Amazing Grace begin. Non-patriots should try Unitarian Universalists where the commies go for free food and hook-ups, and commune with other persons who have severe TDS.
Evan might be an AI generated pundit. Nevertheless if there’s any intelligence there it’s certainly minimal.
Matt Schultz is just another trouble causer. I suggest Matt hosts his anti-American, pro illegal alien invader seminar speaking various languages, any other than English of course!
Alaska has a lot of illegals invited during the 2020-2024 wave, but a small percentage compared to most other states. I’d like to ask Matt how many illegals he thinks should be allowed here. Presumably his answer would be quite different from mine, as mine is ZERO!
Hopefully the training specifically covers what legal actions are and what illegal actions are when “protesting” federal law and sworn public servants who are responsible for enforcing said law. In fact they should probably spend the majority of the training covering what those who are opposed to federal law shouldn’t do since it seems like many activists are more about anarchy than protesting laws or the enforcement of the law. They should also spend sometime informing those who are interested in this training how our representative Constitutional Republic functions through a democratic voting process (democracy). If these people wish to affect change they need to do so in a legal manner, aiding and abetting people who have broken the law is a crime. Supporting criminals including rapists, child molesters, murderers, human traffickers, and the like isn’t an honorable pursuit.
Agree 100%.
Where and when does a church or religious organization cross the line and become a political organization?
End tax exempt status for these charlatans. They have much more money than the average Anchorage taxpayers.
You might look at “IRS complaint process – Tax-Exempt Organizations”.
(https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/irs-complaint-process-tax-exempt-organizations)
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Others are asking too.
Thank you for that link
ICE will be in the audience. Guaranteed.
Schultz has found the perfect place to continue his hard-left pursuits. The Devil’s Workshop is now at the First Presbyterian Church. Beware!!!
Today’s churches are social hubs fitting the general audience attending. Don’t start throwing stones at them for this event while other churches are organizing counter social events to energize the Right.
Any group promoting activism violence or what they call self defense are people you be wise not to be around else in a larger city like Minneapolis or DC (not in Alaska) you could end up like the late ms Good or the late ms Babbitt for hanging out around people lacking peace, self control. patience, and humility.
Protests and heated crowds are high risk that something worse than just screaming can happen. Except in Alaska because our protests don’t get big enough while 60% of Alaskans don’t even know what is going on. Out of the 40 percent of voters fewer are radicalized. This is when our state’s peoples ignorance or isolation makes us lucky that our protests are nothing more than one hour of marching.
Not surprised at all this event/pastor are affiliated with the marxist-leftist infiltrated Presbyterian church. Aside from that aren’t the leftists always the ones screaming the loudest about separation of church and state?
I agree Jen. “Progressive Christians ” add in their politics and try and fit Jesus and the gospels to it. They are reprobate.
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
~Galatians 1:6-9
1. “how to stay safe around aggressive immigration enforcement.” Easy, exit the scene or go back in your house. If you’re not helping apprehend a perp, you truly don’t have any business being there. YOUR choice to stay may result in you getting caught in something that you would otherwise rather avoid.
2. Why does this church still maintain a religious exemption? Madame Mayor: It’s not a LOT of revenue, but it’s a start!
Peacefully assemble is a lot different than what these activists are doing. How much are they getting paid? Keep it legal, leftists.
To be honest I would like to see ALL non profits start paying their taxes.
We are those generations whom have been grifting off non profit employments that non profit employees and board of directors are taking advantage of their non profit status.
That to receive a service of a non profit its better to be an employee than a beneficiary of that service. It’s time non profits start paying their taxes.
It’s time for yearly audits and taxes for non profits and anyone taking government taxpayer money
Like disease-carrying roaches they infest every corner of society. These people are NOT Christians. Not by any stretch of the imagination.
Thank you, Susanne & Alaska Story, for bringing this story to light. We need to be aware of who and where the enemy is. We battle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in high places.
The pastors I run with are common sense, Godly and conservative by the world’s standards. This so-called pastor will surely ruin tax exempt status for ALL churches, soon enough. Hopefully, members of his church wake up and send him packing, like, tomorrow!
As a retired APD officer (25 years) it absolutely embarrasses and infuriates me to see men (and the very occasional woman) “federal agents” and ICE agents who are dressed as cosplaying law enforcement . . . wearing jeans, military style vests loaded with AR15 magazines (but no AR15!), “tactical” thigh holsters, and other “gear”, face masks, mirrored sunglasses, military helmets, and black fingerless gloves with no agency patch or other indication of official authority, no name tag and sometimes a banner that says ICE or POLICE (which anyone can get on eBay), neither of which indicates any legal authority, hopping out of civilian pickup trucks without any official law enforcement agency markings and sometimes out of state license plates . . . and accosting people who have done nothing to warrant any law enforcement attention. Those “federal agents” do not look or act like professional police. Especially those who are fat and out of shape (OK, round is a shape!)
Yelling angrily and cursing, refusing to answer reasonable questions (what agency do you work for, what is your name, why am I being detained) and demanding ID (not legally required to provide unless a suspect in a crime and focus of investigation or otherwise legal “stop”), grabbing folks and needlessly throwing them to the ground . . . These activities are neither necessary nor desirable behaviors of professional Law Enforcement.
If “federal agents” dressed and behaved and acted professionally, there would not be the perception of gestapo like militia. Nobody, even those who are illegal immigrants, wants to be arrested, but most who know they have violated the law will comply with legitimately identified Law Enforcement officers without violence if approached with reasonable and decent action and regard for basic human dignity. Not always, but most will.
Calm, professional and respectful behavior as well as proper uniforms, identification and answering basic questions would go a long way to preventing violence, mistrust and the perception of armed thugs and kidnappers snatching people off the streets.
Folks do not “protest” against Law Enforcement stopping drunk drivers, executing warrants, or arresting people who have committed crimes. It is the bullying thug behavior of armed unidentified masked men violently grabbing people and dragging them to unmarked vehicles that disturbs the citizens. It’s the intimidation and scaremongering that creates the problems.
And then there is the intentional deception about ICE only going after the violent criminals and gang members (they absolutely should) . . . and yet stopping people simply because they have brown skin or are of a perceived particular ethnicity. No reasonable suspicion of having committed any crime or particular knowledge of an immigration violation. That is how even American citizens have been treated, and when the “agents” have been provided with proof, many have said they don’t care and disregard proof and mistreat the person anyway.
The stated need for the “federal agents” to cover their faces to protect them from identification and doxxing is the result of the unprofessional, violent, callous mistreatment and bullying tactics they use, and would be unnecessary if they were truly professional. The general public does not disapprove of or rage against their local or state Law Enforcement properly doing their jobs.
Those of you who blame leftists and socialists and “woke” and whatever other biased labels you want to attach to those you think are against ICE and other “federal agents” are generally among the privileged white population who are not at risk of being targeted by them, but I am absolutely certain that you would be just as angry and feel just as mistreated if all of a sudden some masked unidentified person grabbed you and demanded you provide your proof of identity and citizenship, then tossed your ass on the ground, handcuffed you and hauled you to a detention center when you didn’t have satisfactory proof of citizenship. btw . . . a drivers license does not prove you are a citizen, not even a “Real ID”.
If you are white, you are either an immigrant or descended from immigrants. Only those descended from the aboriginal people (natives who were here on the North American continent BEFORE Europeans got here) are true birthright citizens. So the idea that people who came here from other countries are not or cannot be citizens is absurd. A large portion of the US was taken away from Mexico or France, and the indigenous Indian tribes who were here long before our founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence.
As for churches holding training sessions teaching people’s legal rights regarding immigration and contact with ICE, how is that any different than churches holding political rallies or supporting a particular political candidate? Neither have anything to do with the principle definition of what a church is supposed to do. If someone “rents” the church merely as the building location to conduct an event unrelated in any way to the church, that is a different thing entirely. However, when a pastor uses his church to host an event, that lends that church’s and pastor’s (and by extension the congregation’s) association and approval. Educational endeavors such as legal rights are considerably different from political activism or campaigning. The latter should definitely disqualify a church from tax exemption status. Churches and religious activities should be excluded from politics.
I am absolutely supportive of ICE detaining and arresting immigrants who are here illegally . . . and deporting them upon a legal determination in a court of law. Our Constitution guarantees EVERYONE the right of due process . . . not just American citizens. We are all human beings and we all want to be treated with dignity and respect. Bullies and thugs treat everyone not in their exclusive club with neither, only contempt.
If we are honest with ourselves and everyone else, we would see that all these issues are a result of hate . . . people hate others who are not like them, do not think like them or agree with their views on whatever. Some hate a bit more than others . . . that often leads to violence. I don’t have what I think I should have and deserve cuz that person over there got more than he deserves . . . I’m a Christian and don’t think that person should have or do (insert your vice of choice) cuz the Bible says . . . . . . so he’s a bad person. On and on. I have to be careful what I say cuz you might not like or agree with it.
Get over yourself. None of us had anything to do with how, when, where or why we were born or what gender or ethnicity or any other aspect of our being. We do, however, have a lot to do with how we live our lives, how we treat each other and what we make of our opportunities. Some have more, many have less. Make the most of what you are and what you have. Share with those less fortunate. Be honest. Respect everyone, even those you feel are beneath you, remembering there are those who likely think you are beneath them. Stop hating.
Look to and care for your family.
Wow!!!….Was that a missive or a manifesto? Whatever it was, my rebuttal will be much more succinct. Ready, wait for it,……Bullshhhtt!!!
Donald, thanks for that explanation and your thoughts. Being compassionate and professional infuriates the low IQ conservative kneejerks like Greg and MJohn.
Can you think of a reason why APD has no record of your service? Asking for a friend
Typical hard leftist. Writes an an entire article in the comments section, making absurd leftist claims about the “privileged white population” , etc. while all the while claiming everyone who doesn’t agree is “biased”. While I am not necessarily the biggest Trump fan, understand, Donald, that YOU represent the exact reason Donald Trump was elected president.
MJohn. I kinda think YOU are the reason Trump was elected: he appealed to the gullible.
Greg Forkner apparently changed hie handle to Evan Singh…….