A Chicago TV journalist was pushed to the ground and arrested during an ice raid chicago
A video editor and producer for Chicago television station WGN was arrested by masked federal agents Friday morning during a snow raid on the city’s North Side, as shown in videos shared widely on social media.
The videos show Debbie Brockman being violently forced to the ground by two agents before being handcuffed and placed in a truck. A local resident filming the incident asks her name while she is handcuffed face down in the street.
“Debbie Brockman,” she answers. “I work for WGN. Please let them know.”
In another video, onlookers shout at agents, calling them “fascists,” and telling them to “get out of our neighborhood, get out of our city.” The agents get into the truck and scrape the side of another car, its driver still inside, as they speed off, tearing off part of the car’s bumper.
A Homeland Security official said Brockman is accused of assaulting federal law enforcement officers by throwing objects at the vehicle.
The incident occurred in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood, where immigration agents — at the request of Trump officials — were scouring the city looking for people to deport.
Chicago’s tough immigration enforcement has been met with protests.
“It was absolutely horrifying” to see Brockman arrested in person, local resident Nancy Mauldin told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“This was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in Chicago, having lived here for over 20 years,” Mauldin said.
Witnesses told local media that the agents were targeting a small group of landscapers, but this was not immediately confirmed. It appears that another person, a man, has also been arrested.
In one video, the man can be seen handcuffed in the back of the car during Brockman’s arrest. The person filming asks him in Spanish what his name is.
“The U.S. Border Patrol was conducting immigration enforcement operations when several violent agitators used their vehicles to deny entry to agents in an attempt to obstruct and assault federal officers,” said Tricia McLaughlin of the Department of Homeland Security.
“Fearing for public safety and law enforcement, officers used their utility vehicle to strike a suspect’s vehicle and create a hole. As the agents drove off, Deborah Brockman, a US citizen, threw objects at the Border Patrol vehicle and was placed under arrest for assaulting a federal law enforcement officer.”
WGN said it is aware of the situation and is gathering facts.
Brockman’s arrest came days after prosecutors were forced to drop charges against anti-ice protesters accused of assaulting federal agents while carrying weapons outside an immigration detention facility in Chicago — a move that comes after a grand jury declined to hand up an indictment in the case.
A federal judge in Chicago on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order barring federal agents from using certain forceful tactics to suppress protests or preventing journalists from covering those protests.
The order prohibits federal officials from arresting, threatening to arrest, or using physical force against journalists unless authorities demonstrate probable cause to believe the journalists have committed a crime.