Photojournalist shot repeatedly with pepper balls at Illinois immigration facility

Freelance photojournalist Dave Decker was shot multiple times with pepper balls by federal officers while covering protests outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Illinois, on Sept. 26, 2025.

Decker told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was on assignment for Zuma Press to cover protests at the facility, where detainees are being held and processed ahead of deportation.

He said some demonstrators arranged a walking protest akin to a picket line in front of one entrance, while others were standing near another entrance, exchanging insults with the federal officers.

“Suddenly the agents just came out and started shooting again, because they wanted people — I guess — to leave the parking lot,” Decker said.

He and a second journalist, Leigh Kunkel, took cover behind a van to document from relative safety, as officers shot crowd-control munitions at the protesters.

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.

“They’re shooting from the north, and we’re on the south side of this van,” Decker said. “Suddenly, I felt something really painful hit the back of my arm coming from the east, and it burned.”

When he looked down, he saw that Kunkel’s nose was bleeding.

“Then I felt another one zoom by my head,” Decker continued. “And they basically just sprayed us with those pepper balls, which are the size of a marble, they’re pretty big, and they hurt like heck.”

Decker said he quickly wrapped an arm around Kunkel, turned around and ran from the officers. After quickly documenting her injuries, he brought her to a medic at the scene.

“It’s so crazy that somebody would see people with cameras and stuff and just go and do that at a really close distance,” Decker said. “They had seen me previously, saw I had cameras and credentials and all that kind of stuff.

“I felt extremely targeted,” he added.

After he resumed covering the protest and the federal officers’ response, Decker said he was struck with pepper balls at least three more times. “That’s just how this job is. You’re going to try to document what they’re doing, and you just take that chance,” he observed.

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, including Decker — 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.”