Chicago TV Reporter's Detainment in ICE Operation Called 'Disturbing and Horrifying', Lawyers State
Legal representatives representing a journalist from the city of Chicago's local TV network who was briefly held by government officers last week characterize the event as "something that should alarm and horrify each individual in this nation".
Details of the Detainment
Debbie Brockman, a US citizen and WGN employee, was taken into custody on Friday by federal agents during an ICE operation in a North Side Chicago area. Footage from the location show the producer being pushed down by two agents before she is handcuffed and placed in a van.
At the time, a homeland security official stated that Brockman "threw objects at border patrol's car" and was "detained for assault on a federal law enforcement officer".
Subsequently that day, WGN confirmed that Brockman had been freed from detention and that no charges had been filed against her.
Legal Team's Response
In a statement issued by lawyers representing Brockman on earlier this week, her representatives disputed the official version. They stated they "strongly refute any claim that she attacked anyone" and that "She was the one who was physically attacked by officers on her way to work" on the date in question.
Her attorneys say that at the moment of the detainment, Brockman was "not acting in any official role as an staff member for the station" but that she was just "heading to the transit point as part of her morning commute when she was attacked by federal officers.
"Brockman, who is a American citizen native to the US, was forcibly held on Foster Avenue," the statement continues. "As this happened, bystanders on the street began filming the event and inquired her her name."
The release says that she informed the bystanders her name and that she was employed at WGN, in the hopes that "someone would notify her employer so colleagues would know that she would not be coming at work that day", her lawyers said.
Consequences and Legal Action
According to her legal team, Brockman was held in government detention for about several hours before being released.
"She has not been accused with any crimes and she plans to explore all legal options open to her to uphold her entitlements and ensure government accountability for their actions," the statement adds.
"One attorney, one of her attorneys, added in the statement: "If armed, covered, federal agents are taking American nationals off the street as they travel to work and throwing them in non-descript cars, you can only conceive what these agents must be willing to do to our immigrant neighbors and people who choose to speak out against them."
"The journalist was forced down, battered, restrained, and her trousers were pulled down revealing her bare buttocks," Thomson said. "Not anyone should be handled like that in this city, in this country or anywhere else in the globe."
ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the border agency did not immediately respond to inquiries from the media.