Viral video: 'I work for WGN. Please let them know', Journalist Debbie Brockman pushed to ground, arrested by ICE
Debbie Brockman, a WGN-TV producer, was detained by CBP agents in Chicago for allegedly assaulting a federal officer. A video shows her being restrained.
A producer for WGN-TV, a Chicago-based television station, was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents on Friday in a residential neighbourhood of the city, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Reuters reported.
In a statement, DHS confirmed that Debbie Brockman was arrested for “assault on a federal law enforcement officer.”
A video taken by a bystander and shared on social media shows masked border patrol agents holding a woman to the ground, who identifies herself as Debbie Brockman, an employee of WGN.
She is handcuffed and taken into a silver van with New Jersey plates. Onlookers honk their horns and jeer at the agents.
Watch the viral video here:
However, it was not immediately clear whether Brockman had been taken into custody, or whether she had a lawyer.
The DHS said “several violent agitators” had been attempting to impede federal officers in their duties. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the DHS, said on X that Brockman had been arrested after throwing objects at law enforcement.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden, issued a temporary restraining order that provided protections for journalists and protesters in the Chicago area.
The order restricts the ability of federal agents to disperse, arrest or use physical force against journalists unless they have probable cause to believe the individual has committed a crime. Agents may still order journalists to move to avoid disrupting law enforcement.
In September, the administration of Republican President Donald Trump announced the launch of an aggressive campaign in the Chicago area to deport immigrants in the country illegally that it labeled “Operation Midway Blitz.”
Since then, officers have shot at least two people. Silverio Villegas Gonzalez in Franklin Park, Illinois, was shot dead during an attempted arrest by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Marimar Martinez, who survived being shot five times by a Border Patrol agent, was indicted on Thursday for allegedly impeding a federal officer with a deadly weapon. Authorities have stated that the agent acted in self-defense during the incident.
In a separate ongoing situation, ICE agents have clashed with protesters outside an immigration processing center in Broadview, using pepper balls, tear gas, and other chemical munitions to disperse the crowds. A CBS TV reporter reported that her vehicle was also sprayed with pepper balls during the incident, and the Broadview Police Department has confirmed it is investigating the matter.
(With inputs from Reuters)