Photojournalist repeatedly struck with baton, tackled at Illinois immigration protest

Freelance photojournalist Dave Decker was struck at least three times with a baton and then tackled to the ground by Illinois State Police while reporting on protests outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview on Oct. 11, 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.

Following pressure from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a unified command composed of local law enforcement agencies and headed by the Illinois State Police took over the protest response Oct. 2, establishing designated protest zones around the building.

Decker told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was on assignment for the PBS News show “Frontline” as part of a larger reporting project, and had been routinely covering protests at the facility. On Oct. 11, as with previous demonstrations, officers with the unified command were ensuring that protesters remained in the designated zones.

“If you literally just crossed the street, they’d come out, they’d give you some warnings,” Decker said. “But, you know, protesters are emotional and cops have emotions, and when they’re getting yelled at all day, tempers start to rise.”

He said that he was standing on the edge of the protest, filming a large group of Illinois State Police officers when they advanced to push back the crowd with large wooden batons that he described as akin to baseball bats.

“After they get tired of dealing with protesters, they’ll form these big lines and you can hear them talking and they’ll pick who the ‘agitators’ are. They’ll pick the loudest five, and they pretty much know that they’re going to detain those people,” he told the Tracker.

Then, Decker said, he suddenly became a target. “I don’t know. I had a black hoodie on, so maybe they thought I was a protester,” he said.

“I think their tactic is to take the back of those billy clubs and just go right into the muscle of your leg,” Decker told the Tracker. “They hit me three times really hard. And then they just took me down.”

Decker said he repeatedly shouted that he was press, and when one of the officers realized, he pulled the photojournalist out of the dogpile. Afterward, he told one of the officers, “Bro, you hit me.” Decker said the officer just gave him a dead-eyed stare.

“My leg the next day was hyperswollen. Our director and correspondent were really worried about me. I was bruised pretty bad,” he told the Tracker. “I just kept working.”

When reached by email, Illinois State Police Public Information Officer Melaney Arnold said, “ISP and the Unified Command’s highest priority is to protect the community and the rights of individuals to express their First Amendment rights — whether they are protestors or members of the media.

“ISP adheres to use-of-force training, policies, and operations that are predicated upon using no force, or the lowest level of force, only when absolutely necessary to protect public safety,” she continued.