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Protester speaks out after White House’s AI-altered image of her arrest

Protesters disrupt church service in Minnesota where ICE official is pastor

Nekima Levy Armstrong, a social justice activist, criticized the White House for posting an AI-manipulated image of her crying after her arrest during a church protest.
Levy Armstrong was arrested last month along with eight others for an anti-immigration enforcement protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, which she co-organized.
The original photograph showed Levy Armstrong walking calmly, but the White House posted an altered version depicting her as hysterical with tears and dishevelled hair.
She described the manipulated image as "degrading" and compared the White House's actions to a "$2 tabloid," also likening it to racist depictions during Jim Crow.
White House deputy communications director Kaelan Dorr dismissed the image as a "meme," but Levy Armstrong's lawyers have cited it in court filings as evidence of the government's "bad faith."