Freelance photojournalist arrested at anti-deportation protest in Indiana

Freelance photojournalist Matthew Kaplan was arrested in Gary, Indiana, on Jan. 18, 2025, while reporting on a pre-inauguration protest against large-scale deportations planned by Donald Trump’s incoming administration.

In a post on social media, Kaplan wrote that protesters had gathered at the Gary/Chicago International Airport to demonstrate against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Regular protests have been held there since 2017 to object to its long-standing use by ICE for deportation flights, The Times of Northwest Indiana reported.

The demonstrators marched toward the airport from a nearby train station while chanting and carrying signs, including “Abolish ICE” and “No Human is Illegal,” Kaplan wrote. After spending around 10 minutes protesting near the airport, they began the walk back to the train.

“Soon some 10-15 police cars were tailing the group and ordered them to get off the active highway,” Kaplan wrote. “This order was eventually obeyed, but almost immediately after the marchers were on the grassy shoulder, police began to push people down and make arrests.”

Lisa Kiselevich, another freelance photojournalist covering the demonstration, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that both she and Kaplan were photographing as police carried one of the arrested protesters to a police vehicle. She said she remembered thinking Kaplan was standing in the better position.

“I’m like, ‘Oh, he got the best spot there for his shots, because then he can see the person and the police car door open and everything. He’s in the perfect spot there,” Kiselevich said. “It turned out that the spot was not so lucky, because the (my) next shot shows the policeman grabbing him from the back.”

Kiselevich said she didn’t hear the Gary Police Department officer issue a warning before arresting Kaplan, adding that while the scene was chaotic it was clear that both she and Kaplan were only photographing the event.

She said Kaplan gave her his two cameras, along with his tripod and camera bag, because he was concerned the officers might wipe his memory cards. The officer allowed the handoff but repeatedly threatened Kiselevich with arrest if she didn’t leave.

“I said, ‘Well yeah, I’ll be out of here. Just let me grab his camera,’” Kiselevich said. “I did it and was walking, and then he walked behind me, the policeman, and he kept saying, ‘I will arrest you’ or ‘I’m going to arrest you’ or something like that. And not very loudly either.”

The Gary Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Kaplan wrote in his account that he was taken to the Gary Police Station and held for around two hours before he was released on charges of disorderly conduct, criminal trespass and resisting law enforcement.

“I don’t really like myself being the story, because there were two protesters who were arrested too,” Kaplan told the Tracker. “That’s what I thought I was covering. I thought I was just covering a march. I didn’t think I was going to be covering police action or my own arrest.”

Kaplan declined to comment further, following legal advice, before his initial appearance hearing Jan. 22.