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Federal law enforcement agents stand guard as they are confronted by community members and activists for reportedly shooting a woman in the Brighton Park neighborhood on October 4, 2025 in Broadview, Illinois.
(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
ICE Pins Chicago TV News Producer to the Ground, Hauls Her Off in Unmarked Van
WGN says it "is aware of this situation, and we are actively gathering the facts related to it."
Oct 10, 2025
A longtime TV news produced at Chicago-based station WGN on Friday was forcefully pinned to the ground and then hauled off in an unmarked van by masked federal agents.
As reported by the Chicago Tribune, WGN producer Debbie Brockman was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a law enforcement action in the city's Lincoln Square neighborhood on Friday morning, purportedly on the grounds that she was obstructing their work.
Video of the arrest taken by an onlooker showed ICE agents handcuffing Brockman after they forced her to lie on her stomach. As the agents were detaining her, Brockman told the onlooker her name and asked him to let her employer, WGN, know what had happened to her.
She was then placed into an unmarked silver van and taken away to an unknown location, according to the Tribune.
BREAKING: Masked Border Patrol agents aggressively arrested WGN video producer Debbie Brockman in Lincoln Square Friday morning, supposedly for "obstructing justice." (Video via Josh Thomas on Facebook) pic.twitter.com/oirNviFCww
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) October 10, 2025
In a statement given to the Tribune, WGN said that it "is aware of this situation, and we are actively gathering the facts related to it."
Josh Thomas, a local resident who witnessed the arrest, told the Tribune that he walked out of the door of his condominium and saw Brockman "laying on the ground in the street and they’re wrestling with her, trying to get her hands behind her back."
"They said they were detaining her for obstruction," Thomas added. "She said, ‘I didn’t obstruct.'"
The arrest of Brockman comes one day after a judge responded to ICE agents' recent violence in suburban Broadview by barring all federal officials in the Northern District of Illinois from using riot weapons “on members of the press, protestors, or religious practitioners who are not posing an immediate threat to the safety of a law enforcement officer or others.”
Federal immigration officials have been employing increasingly aggressive and violent tactics in the Chicago area in recent weeks, including attacking a journalist and a protesting priest with pepper balls outside the Broadview ICE facility; slamming a congressional candidate to the ground; dragging US citizens, including children, out of their homes during a raid in the middle of the night; and fatally shooting a man during a traffic stop.
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A longtime TV news produced at Chicago-based station WGN on Friday was forcefully pinned to the ground and then hauled off in an unmarked van by masked federal agents.
As reported by the Chicago Tribune, WGN producer Debbie Brockman was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a law enforcement action in the city's Lincoln Square neighborhood on Friday morning, purportedly on the grounds that she was obstructing their work.
Video of the arrest taken by an onlooker showed ICE agents handcuffing Brockman after they forced her to lie on her stomach. As the agents were detaining her, Brockman told the onlooker her name and asked him to let her employer, WGN, know what had happened to her.
She was then placed into an unmarked silver van and taken away to an unknown location, according to the Tribune.
BREAKING: Masked Border Patrol agents aggressively arrested WGN video producer Debbie Brockman in Lincoln Square Friday morning, supposedly for "obstructing justice." (Video via Josh Thomas on Facebook) pic.twitter.com/oirNviFCww
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) October 10, 2025
In a statement given to the Tribune, WGN said that it "is aware of this situation, and we are actively gathering the facts related to it."
Josh Thomas, a local resident who witnessed the arrest, told the Tribune that he walked out of the door of his condominium and saw Brockman "laying on the ground in the street and they’re wrestling with her, trying to get her hands behind her back."
"They said they were detaining her for obstruction," Thomas added. "She said, ‘I didn’t obstruct.'"
The arrest of Brockman comes one day after a judge responded to ICE agents' recent violence in suburban Broadview by barring all federal officials in the Northern District of Illinois from using riot weapons “on members of the press, protestors, or religious practitioners who are not posing an immediate threat to the safety of a law enforcement officer or others.”
Federal immigration officials have been employing increasingly aggressive and violent tactics in the Chicago area in recent weeks, including attacking a journalist and a protesting priest with pepper balls outside the Broadview ICE facility; slamming a congressional candidate to the ground; dragging US citizens, including children, out of their homes during a raid in the middle of the night; and fatally shooting a man during a traffic stop.
From Your Site Articles
- ICE in Chicago: First They Came for the Immigrants ›
- ICE Operation 'Midway Blitz' Underway as Authoritarian Trump Targets Chicago ›
- ICE Shooting Near Chicago Shows Dangers of Trump ‘Midway Blitz’ ›
Related Articles Around the Web
A longtime TV news produced at Chicago-based station WGN on Friday was forcefully pinned to the ground and then hauled off in an unmarked van by masked federal agents.
As reported by the Chicago Tribune, WGN producer Debbie Brockman was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a law enforcement action in the city's Lincoln Square neighborhood on Friday morning, purportedly on the grounds that she was obstructing their work.
Video of the arrest taken by an onlooker showed ICE agents handcuffing Brockman after they forced her to lie on her stomach. As the agents were detaining her, Brockman told the onlooker her name and asked him to let her employer, WGN, know what had happened to her.
She was then placed into an unmarked silver van and taken away to an unknown location, according to the Tribune.
BREAKING: Masked Border Patrol agents aggressively arrested WGN video producer Debbie Brockman in Lincoln Square Friday morning, supposedly for "obstructing justice." (Video via Josh Thomas on Facebook) pic.twitter.com/oirNviFCww
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) October 10, 2025
In a statement given to the Tribune, WGN said that it "is aware of this situation, and we are actively gathering the facts related to it."
Josh Thomas, a local resident who witnessed the arrest, told the Tribune that he walked out of the door of his condominium and saw Brockman "laying on the ground in the street and they’re wrestling with her, trying to get her hands behind her back."
"They said they were detaining her for obstruction," Thomas added. "She said, ‘I didn’t obstruct.'"
The arrest of Brockman comes one day after a judge responded to ICE agents' recent violence in suburban Broadview by barring all federal officials in the Northern District of Illinois from using riot weapons “on members of the press, protestors, or religious practitioners who are not posing an immediate threat to the safety of a law enforcement officer or others.”
Federal immigration officials have been employing increasingly aggressive and violent tactics in the Chicago area in recent weeks, including attacking a journalist and a protesting priest with pepper balls outside the Broadview ICE facility; slamming a congressional candidate to the ground; dragging US citizens, including children, out of their homes during a raid in the middle of the night; and fatally shooting a man during a traffic stop.
From Your Site Articles
- ICE in Chicago: First They Came for the Immigrants ›
- ICE Operation 'Midway Blitz' Underway as Authoritarian Trump Targets Chicago ›
- ICE Shooting Near Chicago Shows Dangers of Trump ‘Midway Blitz’ ›
Related Articles Around the Web
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