🔗 Share this article

Legal representatives representing a producer 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 alarm and horrify every person in this nation".

Particulars of the Detainment

Debbie Brockman, a US citizen and WGN employee, was taken into custody on the weekend by government officers during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in a North Side Chicago area. Footage from the scene show the producer being forced to the ground by two agents before she is restrained and put in a vehicle.

At the moment, a government spokesperson stated that Brockman "threw objects at border patrol's car" and was "detained for attacking an officer".

Later on Friday, WGN confirmed that Brockman had been freed from detention and that no charges had been pressed against her.

Legal Team's Response

In a statement issued by attorneys representing the journalist on Tuesday, her representatives challenged the government's account. They declared they "strongly refute any allegation that she attacked anyone" and that "Brockman was the one who was violently assaulted by federal agents on her way to work" on 10 October.

Her attorneys explain that at the time of the arrest, the journalist was "not acting in any official role as an staff member for WGN" but that she was just "heading to the bus stop as part of her morning commute when she was attacked by Border Patrol agents.

"Brockman, who is a American citizen native to the US, was violently detained on a city street," the statement adds. "As this occurred, bystanders on the street began recording the incident and asked Ms Brockman her name."

The release says that she informed the onlookers her name and that she was employed at the station, in the hopes that "someone would inform her employer so coworkers would know that she would not be arriving at work that day", her lawyers stated.

Aftermath and Legal Action

According to her lawyers, Brockman 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 entitlements and ensure government accountability for their conduct," the release adds.

"One attorney, one of her attorneys, commented in the statement: "If equipped, covered, government officers are taking American nationals off the street as they walk to work and throwing them in non-descript cars, you can only imagine what these officers must be prepared to do to our foreign-born residents and people who choose to speak out against them."

"Ms Brockman was taken to the ground, struck, handcuffed, and her pants were pulled down exposing her uncovered skin," Thomson said. "Not anyone should be handled like that in this city, in this nation or anywhere else in the globe."

Immigration authorities, the federal agency, and the US Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the media.