Journalist shot with pepper balls at Illinois ICE facility protest

Journalist Raven Geary was shot in the face and shoulder with pepper balls 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. 19, 2025.

Geary, co-founder and reporter for the investigative outlet Unraveled Press, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that demonstrators had been gathering for weeks outside the facility where detainees are being held and processed ahead of deportation. She said that the federal officers have been becoming more aggressive with both attendees and journalists covering the protests.

“We’ve been seeing an escalation from them significantly over the last few weeks. And these agents specifically have threatened us as reporters, they’ve tried to intimidate us,” she observed.

On Sept. 19, multiple protests were organized to take place at the facility, Geary reported, with federal officers inside periodically shooting crowd-control munitions at the crowd, including at one point shooting directly at Geary’s feet.

As the evening went on, Geary said both she and her Unraveled Press co-founder, Steve Held, were shot with munitions at close range.

“They shot Steve in the groin, and I have that on video. The guy is like a foot away from him and just pops him in the crotch with the pepper ball gun,” Geary said. “And I got hit in the face and shoulder.

“It was just another situation where they were just kind of indiscriminately shooting at people’s faces, groins, places they’re not supposed to at close range, and then pepper-spraying people in the face,” she added.

The chemical irritant powder in pepper balls is worse, in her opinion, than the liquid or gel in pepper spray, Geary said. “The powder just gets everywhere, and it comes and goes. You’ll get hit with a bunch of it and you’ll think you’re fine and then an hour later you’re still coughing it up.”

Geary told the Tracker they were able to continue covering the protest for several hours. She was struck, however, by how chaotic the federal officers were in their response, in comparison to the Chicago Police Department.

“With CPD, they use these very organized, military kind of formations: They’re holding on to each other, watching each other’s backs for their own safety,” she said. “And these guys are just scattered everywhere, doing whatever the hell they want, it’s just wild.”

ICE did not respond to a request for comment.