🔗 Share this article

Attorneys representing a journalist from the city of Chicago's WGN television station who was briefly held by government officers last week characterize the event as "something that should concern and frighten every person in this country".

Particulars of the Arrest

The journalist, a US citizen and station staff member, was taken into custody on the weekend by government officers during an ICE action in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood. Videos from the location show the producer being forced to the ground by two agents before she is restrained and placed in a van.

At the time, a government spokesperson stated that the individual "threw objects at an official vehicle" and was "detained for attacking an officer".

Later on Friday, the television station confirmed that their employee had been freed from detention and that no charges had been filed against her.

Attorney's Reaction

In a news release released by attorneys representing Brockman on Tuesday, her legal team disputed the government's account. They declared they "adamantly deny any claim that she assaulted anyone" and that "She was the one who was violently assaulted by officers on her way to work" on 10 October.

Her lawyers explain that at the moment of the detainment, the journalist was "not performing in any official role as an employee for WGN" but that she was just "heading to the bus stop as part of her daily travel when she was confronted by Border Patrol agents.

"The individual, who is a US Citizen native to the US, was violently detained on Foster Avenue," the statement adds. "As this happened, bystanders on the street began recording the incident and inquired her her name."

The release indicates that she informed the onlookers her name and that she was employed at the station, in the hopes that "someone would inform her workplace so colleagues would know that she would not be coming at work that day", her attorneys said.

Consequences and Legal Action

Based on her legal team, the journalist was kept in federal custody for about several hours before being released.

"The individual has not been charged with any crimes and she intends to pursue all legal avenues open to her to vindicate her rights and hold the federal authorities accountable for their actions," the release notes.

"One attorney, a legal representative, commented in the statement: "If armed, masked, government officers are snatching US citizens off the street as they travel to work and placing them in non-descript cars, you can only imagine what these agents must be prepared to do to our foreign-born residents and people who dare to speak out against them."

"The journalist was forced down, struck, handcuffed, and her pants were lowered revealing her bare buttocks," the lawyer stated. "Not anyone should be handled like that in this city, in this nation or any other place in the globe."

ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the border agency did not immediately respond to inquiries from the media.