🔗 Share this article Windy City TV Journalist's Arrest in Immigration Operation Called 'Disturbing and Terrifying', Lawyers Assert Legal representatives representing a producer from the city of Chicago's local TV network who was temporarily detained by government officers last week characterize the incident as "an occurrence that ought to concern and horrify each individual in this nation". Particulars of the Detainment The journalist, a American national and WGN employee, was taken into custody on Friday by federal agents during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement action in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood. Videos from the scene depict the producer being pushed down by two agents before she is handcuffed and placed in a vehicle. At the moment, a government spokesperson claimed that Brockman "threw objects at an official vehicle" and was "placed under arrest for assault on a federal law enforcement officer". Later on Friday, the television station announced that their employee had been freed from detention and that no accusations had been filed against her. Attorney's Reaction In a statement released by lawyers representing the journalist on earlier this week, her representatives disputed the government's account. They declared they "strongly refute any claim that she assaulted anyone" and that "She was the one who was violently assaulted by federal agents on her way to work" on the date in question. Her lawyers say that at the time of the detainment, Brockman was "not acting in any professional capacity as an staff member for WGN" but that she was just "walking to the transit point as part of her morning commute when she was attacked by federal officers. "Brockman, who is a US Citizen native to the US, was violently detained on a city street," the release continues. "As this occurred, bystanders on the street began recording the event and inquired Ms Brockman her name." The statement says that she told the bystanders her name and that she was employed at WGN, in the hopes that "a person would notify her workplace so colleagues would know that she would not be coming at work that day", her attorneys stated. Consequences and Next Steps According to her legal team, Brockman was kept in government detention for about seven hours before being released. "The individual has not been charged with any offenses and she intends to pursue all legal options available to her to vindicate her entitlements and ensure government accountability for their actions," the statement notes. "One attorney, one of her attorneys, commented in the statement: "If equipped, masked, federal agents are taking US citizens off the street as they walk to work and throwing them in unmarked vehicles, you can only imagine what these officers must be prepared to do to our immigrant neighbors and individuals who dare to speak out against them." "The journalist was forced down, battered, handcuffed, and her pants were pulled down revealing her uncovered skin," the lawyer said. "Not anyone should be handled like that in this city, in this country or anywhere else in the globe." Immigration authorities, the federal agency, and the border agency did not provide a prompt reply to inquiries from the media.