Incident details
- Date of incident
- September 26, 2025
- Assailant
- Law enforcement
- Was the journalist targeted?
- Unknown
Assault
A demonstrator amid tear gas at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest in Broadview, Illinois, on Sept. 26, 2025. A Chicago Sun-Times photographer was struck by projectiles while covering the demonstration.
An unidentified photojournalist with the Chicago Sun-Times was hit six times with projectiles, including once with a pepper ball, while covering a protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Illinois, on Sept. 26, 2025.
The journalist was also exposed to tear gas and other crowd-control munitions fired by federal agents, including flash-bang grenades, stinger grenades and baton rounds, during one of a series of demonstrations held outside the facility where detainees are held and processed ahead of deportation.
It’s unclear whether the incident was targeted, according to information shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker by the Chicago News Guild. The journalist is not being named due to safety concerns.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a Tracker request for comment. In a press release on Sept. 26, DHS 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, 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.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
