Journalist shot with pepper balls by federal officers at Illinois protest

Independent journalist Wali Khan was shot with multiple pepper balls by federal officers while covering protests outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois, on Sept. 27, 2025.

The facility, where detainees are being held and processed ahead of deportation, has drawn escalating protests and federal response since early September, following the Department of Homeland Security’s launch of Operation Midway Blitz.

In response to an aggressive federal response to protests Sept. 26, Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson sent a letter to the DHS 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.”

“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.”

Khan told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was covering protests Sept. 27, despite having been shot with multiple crowd-control munitions by federal officers at the facility the previous day.

As officers advanced from a fenced entrance at the facility and into the assembled demonstration, Khan said they were aggressive and did not hesitate to target the press.

Khan told the Tracker that an officer deliberately deployed tear gas in front of him and another journalist, then grabbed Khan by the shoulder and forced him to walk through the chemical irritant.

Federal officers were also indiscriminately firing pepper balls and other crowd-control munitions into the crowd, Khan said. “They were shooting everyone at random,” he added.

He wrote on Instagram that he was struck multiple times, and told the Tracker that at least one pepper ball hit his leg.

Khan said that his extensive exposure to chemical irritants over two days of covering the protests in Broadview has taken a lasting toll.

“My breathing has not been right since those days. I feel like I’ve had this nagging cough. I think I breathed in way too much,” he said. Khan added, “It was incredibly difficult to do my job. All this deployment of CS gas and stuff: Yeah, you can use a gas mask. But if they keep shooting you, you really just can’t do your work.”

ICE did not respond to requests for comment. Bovino posted a video package of the Sept. 27 protest response on the social platform X two days later, set to Duckwrth and Shaboozey’s song “Start a Riot.”

“Wave your signs, chant your slogans, hurl your verbal insults, and exercise your First Amendment rights— we’ll protect that,” Bovino wrote. “Lay a finger on our agents, impede our mission, endanger those in our custody and we have a front row seat for you to our justice system.”