Lawsuit Challenges ICE's Brutal Silencing Of Press, Protesters In Chicago

Media organizations, journalists, clergy, and citizens in the Chicagoland area sued officials in President Donald Trump’s administration for systematically violating their First Amendment rights. 

To protect the constitutional rights of journalists and residents engaged in freedom of expression and assembly and freedom of the press, the plaintiffs seek an emergency order to prevent Trump administration officials, like Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, from further engaging in unlawful actions. They demand that “officers, agents, assigns, and all persons acting in concert with them” be required to wear “visible identification” on their uniforms.

On the day that the lawsuit was filed, United States Judge Sara Ellis convened for a hearing on a temporary restraining order against ICE. Chicago journalist Dave Byrnes reported that Ellis insisted there should be "some way to identify" individual ICE agents, and she believed that the journalists, clergy, and protesters had ample evidence to support issuing some order that would offer a level of protection.

However, as Byrnes shared, lawyers for the plaintiffs had some difficulty persuading the judge that ICE should treat the press differently than protesters. "I don't think it's correct that officers can't ask anyone, including journalists, to disperse from a particular area."

The lawsuit [PDF] specifically relates to protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that have occurred outside a detention facility in Broadview, Illinois, since Trump launched “Operation Midway Blitz” at the beginning of September. Hundreds of masked agents with military gear, weapons, and vehicles were unleashed against communities. 

“Never in modern times has the federal government undermined bedrock constitutional protections on this scale, or usurped states’ police power by directing federal agents to carry out an illegal mission against the people for the government’s own benefit,” the complaint states.

Several of the incidents described in the lawsuit were previously covered by The Dissenter. In particular, journalist Steve Held, a co-founder of Unraveled Press, was detained in the ICE facility on September 27. He was documenting protesters and federal officers with a video camera and on social media when agents brought him inside and jailed him. Held had “four visible indications that he was a member of the press.”

According to Held, officers even covered up the windows where he was confined to keep him from seeing outside. The lawsuit makes it clear that he was “released with no charges because he had done nothing wrong.” He fears that if he returns to the facility he will be targeted again. 

Raven Geary, also a co-founder of Unraveled Press, was shot in the face with a pepper ball on September 26. The officer was standing “approximately 30 feet away while she was standing in a public parking area, taking a picture of him.” She was wearing press credentials and a helmet with “PRESS” on it. 

'Attacks On Individual Journalists Are Too Numerous To List In Full'

Additional attacks on journalists that are mentioned in the lawsuit include Leigh Giancreco, a freelance reporter who was working for the nonprofit news organization Block Club Chicago. “Federal officers shot pepper balls at her, striking her repeatedly.” 

Charles Thrush, a journalism student who was working for Block Club Chicago, was “shot in the hand while clearly identifiable as a member of the press, standing apart from protesters and videotaping as federal agents fired pepper balls at two peaceful protesters attempting to shelter behind a collapsible umbrella.” Thrush also had to flee as chemical agents rained down upon protesters. 

Yet another reporter, Shawn Mulcahy, who is the news editor for the Chicago Reader and a member of the Chicago News Guild, was shot at with a "rubber bullet or foam round” on September 26. He had a helmet marked “PRESS,” press credentials, and a notebook. That same day, ICE agents “threw tear gas canisters at Mr. Mulcahy and a group of other journalists.”

“The attacks on individual journalists are too numerous to list in full,” the complaint declares. But it emphasizes that “federal immigration officers” have repeatedly targeted “members of the press for violence, assault, and intimidation.”

The lawsuit adds, “This violence is allegedly “undertaken by design to intimidate journalists on scene and to frustrate and suppress coverage of the federal officers’ actions toward protesters and immigration detainees.”

Along with Geary, Held, and Thrush, Block Club Chicago, the Chicago Headline Club, a nonprofit membership organization of professional journalists, the Illinois Press Association, the Chicago Newspaper Guild Local 34071, and a local union chapter of the National Association of Broadcast Employees & Technicians are plaintiffs. 

'A Pattern Of Extreme Brutality'

Much like the lawsuit in Los Angeles that was pursued by journalists against ICE and various federal agencies, this particular lawsuit paints a vivid picture of the savagery that has been inflicted upon anyone in the vicinity of ICE agents. 

“Roving patrols of masked, militarized, and often unidentifiable agents have been seen on streets from Chicago’s city center to its suburbs,” the complaint recounts. “Federal agents have killed civilians, and they have used extreme and unlawful force against individuals. They have illegally stopped, detained incommunicado, and arrested hundreds of people, including many citizens. Federal agents have arrested elected officials without any basis.”

“They have conducted military-style raids on civilian apartment complexes, terrorizing residents, including children, and demolishing personal property. They have blown off the doors of people’s houses with explosive devices. They have shot at people. They have thrown tear gas canisters on city streets. They have conducted operations at hospitals, schools, and places of worship.”

The Trump administration has openly expressed its intent to “illegally suppress speech and assembly, use illegal force, and conduct illegal detentions of individuals who oppose them.”

“Federal agents have responded with a pattern of extreme brutality in a concerted and ongoing effort to silence the press and civilians. Dressed in full combat gear, often masked, carrying weapons, bearing flash grenades and tear gas canisters, and marching in formation, federal agents have repeatedly advanced upon those present at the scene who posed no imminent threat to law enforcement,” according to the lawsuit. 

As the complaint notes, “Many civilians and press are being injured and sickened, to the point of serious injuries. Some are being randomly singled out for arrest. They are tackled to the ground, handcuffed, and marched into the Broadview ICE facility, where they are detained incommunicado for hours.”

One of the individual protesters suing Trump administration officials is William Paulson, who is a 67-year-old retired union painter. Paulson lives with emphysema and COPD. He was gassed by ICE agents and “disoriented by flash grenades.” That led him to fall to his hands and knees. The pain caused him to vomit, and he had trouble breathing.

Leigh Kunkel, a 38-year-old Chicago resident, was apparently present as a protester and a journalist. As agents struck her in the back of the head and the nose with pepper balls, her face turned bloody. She left with a “newfound fear of exercising her First Amendment rights.”

Part of the request for an emergency order demands that the court impose restrictions on ICE’s use of “riot control” weaponry to disperse protests and antagonize reporters.

“The targeting of reporters and photographers covering demonstrations outside the ICE facility is more than an assault on the press—it’s an assault on the public’s right to know,” the Chicago Headline Club concluded. 

“When journalists are silenced, the public loses access to the truth about government actions.”

While photographer Zach Hussein is not presently a plaintiff in the lawsuit, Status Coup recently spoke to him about an incident where ICE officers shot him 10-20 times. Hussein said they claimed that they "did not give a fuck" that he was press, and he was shot in the head.

Here's just another example of ICE violence against journalists: