Arrested protester reveals pain caused by White House’s AI-generated photo of her crying: ‘Was just so degrading’

Nekima Levy Armstrong, a lawyer and social justice activist who was arrested last month for participating in a church protest, has criticized the White House for posting of an AI-manipulated image of her crying to announce her apprehension.

“They couldn’t break me by arresting me,” Levy Armstrong told the New York Times. “So, they doctored an image to show the world a false iteration of that time to make me look weak.”

Levy Armstrong, 49, was one of nine people to be arrested in connection with the anti-immigration enforcement church protest, which Justice Department officials allege impeded religious freedom. A photograph of her arrest showed Levy Armstrong walking calmly with her head held high and an unemotional facial expression.

But the White House posted an altered version of the same photo, making Levy Armstrong look hysterical with tears running down her face, her mouth agape as though she was crying loudly and her hair more disheveled.

“Reducing my image to some scared crying woman was just so degrading, and it just shows how far the office of the president has fallen,” Levy Armstrong said. “The presidency, the White House, is supposed to symbolize the world’s greatest superpower, but instead they acted like a $2 tabloid.”

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Levy Armstrong, a mother of four children, told the NYT she learned that the White House had manipulated the image of her while in jail when she was on the phone with her husband.

She said she was “disgusted” when she later saw it for herself, comparing it to racist depictions of Black people disseminated during Jim Crow.

When asked about the altered image at the time, White House deputy communications director Kaelan Dorr referred to the image as a “meme.”

“Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Dorr wrote.

Levy Armstrong co-organized the protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, to oppose a pastor who reportedly works in a local ICE field office. Tensions between federal immigration officers and protesters in Minnesota had been mounting for weeks but heightened after the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good.

Activists entered the church and interrupted a service, chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good.”

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Videos posted online showed members of the congregation leaving the church as the protesters disrupted the ongoing worship.

Justice Department officials quickly denounced the church protest, accusing participants of conspiring against religious freedom rights at a place of worship and attempting to intimidate, injure or interfere with the exercise of religion.

In addition to Levy Armstrong, other activists were arrested, as were reporters who entered the church to document the demonstration. That includes former CNN anchor Don Lemon, who has vowed to fight the charges.

But the White House’s decision to post a manipulated photo could potentially interfere with their case against Levy Armstrong, whose lawyers have already pointed it out in court filings as an example of “the government's nakedly obvious bad faith.”

The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.