Journalist shot in head, face with pepper balls at Illinois immigration facility

Independent journalist Leigh Kunkel was shot with crowd-control munitions in the face and back of the head by federal officers while reporting on protests outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Illinois, on Sept. 26, 2025.

Kunkel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that protests aren’t her regular beat, but she decided to go by after hearing about demonstrations that had been taking place outside the facility, where detainees are being held and processed ahead of deportation.

“People were standing around the fence and — I cannot express strongly enough — doing literally nothing. Just standing there. There wasn’t even chanting going on,” Kunkel said. “It started with this guy on the roof just sniping people with pepper balls.”

Kunkel, who was not struck in the initial volley, said that while she hadn’t been planning to document the protest, “Once things started going a little sideways, the whole journalism thing just kicked in.”

She told the Tracker that she eventually went around to the other side of the facility, where several journalists had gathered in an informal gaggle.

“A man came out and said, ‘Hey, we’re not ICE. We need to move our trucks or our cars out this way.’ And everyone says OK, and so the crowd parted to let them through,” Kunkel said. “But when they did that, the gates had to open, so these ICE agents came out with this convoy of non-ICE trucks and just started shooting at people with pepper balls.”

Kunkel and a second journalist, photojournalist Dave Decker, had taken cover behind a van when she said she heard someone shout something about an ambush.

In footage of the incident, a group of journalists can be seen documenting officers approximately 50 feet away when suddenly pepper balls start exploding near them, shot from behind. Kunkel and Decker can be seen crouching behind the van 16 seconds into the clip.

“I felt something hit the back of my head, and a pepper ball had hit me from behind,” Kunkel told the Tracker. “I crouched down, and I was just patting the back of my head to see if I was OK. Then I heard someone yell again, and all of a sudden I got hit in the face and my nose was bleeding.”

Decker, who was also struck with multiple pepper balls during that volley, told the Tracker that he looked down and saw blood gushing from Kunkel’s nose.

“You can’t really tell what’s going on in that situation. I just looked at her and she was in shock from getting shot in the face, and I just grabbed her,” Decker said. “I stopped being a photographer and I just grabbed her, put my arm around her, turned around and ran.”

After quickly documenting her injuries, Decker brought her to a medic at the scene.

Kunkel said that the respirator she was wearing took the brunt of the blow.

“A bunch of people got it on film,” Kunkel said of the incident, “and you can very clearly see these agents aiming directly at us and then directly at me while I’m on the ground touching my head.

“It was wild. It’s hard to describe how strange it was and how clearly eager they were to enact violence on everybody there.”

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a press release that day, the Department of Homeland Security described the demonstrators as “rioters,” some of whom were reportedly chanting “Shoot ICE.”

“These violent threats and smears about ICE must stop,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. She also called on Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to “condemn these riots and tone down their rhetoric about ICE.”

Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson sent a letter to DHS following the day’s events, Block Club Chicago reported, accusing ICE officials of “making war” on her community. Thompson asked that the agency stop “deploying chemical arms such as tear gas, pepper spray, etc. against American citizens, our residents, and our first responders.”

According to a Sept. 27 news release, the village of Broadview said that in retaliation for Thompson’s letter, “ICE agents this morning informed the Broadview Police Department that there will be ‘a sh*t show’ in Broadview today.”

Indeed, federal officers responded to protests with chemical irritants and crowd-control munitions that day, affecting multiple journalists, and later arrested a reporter.

“Let’s be clear. ICE is seeking to intimidate the Village of Broadview because we dared exercise our 1st Amendment constitutional rights calling for an end to their war on Broadview,” the statement continued. “We will not be intimidated.”

On Oct. 6, Kunkel joined a federal lawsuit brought by a group of journalists, press organizations, newsrooms, ministers and protesters against President Donald Trump and various federal agencies. The suit requested an emergency temporary restraining order that would impose restrictions on the defendants’ use of physical force and crowd-control munitions.

While Kunkel was listed among the plaintiffs as a protester, she reaffirmed to the Tracker that her activities at the Sept. 26 demonstration were journalistic and that the decision to describe her otherwise was made by her attorneys in the case.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include details about a federal lawsuit filed against President Donald Trump and various federal agencies.