Chicago TV journalist pushed to ground and arrested during Ice raid | Chicago
A video editor and producer for Chicago’s WGN television station was arrested by masked federal agents during an Ice raid on the city’s North Side Friday morning, as seen in videos shared widely on social media.
Videos show Debbie Brockman being violently tackled to the ground by two agents before being handcuffed and placed in a van. A local resident who filmed the incident asks his name as he stands handcuffed and face down in the street.
“Debbie Brockman,” she replies. “I work for WGN. Please let them know.”
In another video, viewers shout at the agents as “fascists” and tell them to “get out of our neighborhood, our city.” The agents get into the van and as it speeds away, it scrapes the side of another car, whose driver is still inside, tearing off part of its bumper.
Brockman is accused of assaulting federal law enforcement by throwing objects at a vehicle, a homeland security official said.
The incident occurred in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood as immigration agents — under orders from Trump officials — were combing the city to deport people.
Increasing immigration enforcement in Chicago has been met with protests.
Local resident Nancy Molden told the Chicago Sun-Times it was “absolutely horrifying” to see Brockman’s arrest in person.
“Living here for 20-something years, it was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in Chicago,” Molden said.
Witnesses told local media that agents targeted a small group of landscape architects, but this was not immediately confirmed. A second person, a man, was also detained.
In one video, the man can be seen handcuffed in the back of the vehicle as Brockman was arrested. The person filming the movie asks his name in Spanish.
Tricia McLaughlin of the homeland security department said: “U.S. Border Patrol was conducting immigration enforcement operations and violent agitators used their vehicles to impede agents in an attempt to impede and attack federal officers.
“Fearing for public safety and law enforcement, officers used their shuttles to attack the suspect’s vehicle and create an opening. While agents were driving, U.S. citizen Deborah Brockman threw objects at the Border Patrol agent’s car, and she was arrested on a charge of assault on a federal law enforcement officer.”
WGN said it was aware of the situation and was gathering the facts.
Brockman’s arrest came just days after prosecutors were forced to drop charges against anti-Ice protesters accused of attacking federal agents while carrying guns outside a Chicago immigration detention center; The move came after grand jurors refused to return an indictment in the case.
On Thursday, a federal judge in Chicago issued a temporary restraining order barring federal agents from using certain coercive tactics to suppress protests or prevent journalists from covering them.
The order restricts federal authorities from arresting, threatening to arrest, or using physical force against journalists unless authorities determine probable cause to believe the journalists have committed a crime.
