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Attorneys acting for a journalist from Chicago's WGN television station who was temporarily detained by government officers last week characterize the event as "an occurrence that ought to alarm and horrify each individual in this nation".

Particulars of the Detainment

Debbie Brockman, a US citizen and station staff member, was taken into custody on the weekend by federal agents during an ICE action in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood. Footage from the location depict the producer being forced to the ground by officers before she is handcuffed and put in a vehicle.

At the time, a homeland security official claimed that Brockman "threw objects at border patrol's car" and was "detained for assault on a federal law enforcement officer".

Subsequently that day, the television station announced that their employee had been freed from detention and that no charges had been pressed against her.

Legal Team's Response

In a statement issued by lawyers acting for the journalist on earlier this week, her legal team disputed the official version. They declared they "strongly refute any allegation that she assaulted anyone" and that "She was the one who was physically attacked by officers on her way to work" on the date in question.

Her lawyers explain that at the moment of the arrest, Brockman was "not performing in any professional capacity as an employee for the station" but that she was just "heading to the transit point as part of her morning commute when she was attacked by federal officers.

"Brockman, who is a US Citizen native to the US, was forcibly held on Foster Avenue," the statement adds. "As this happened, individuals on the street began recording the incident and inquired her her name."

The release indicates that she informed the onlookers her name and that she worked at the station, in the hopes that "a person would notify her workplace so coworkers would know that she would not be coming at work that day", her attorneys said.

Consequences and Legal Action

According to her lawyers, the journalist was kept in government detention for about seven hours before being released.

"The individual has not been accused with any crimes and she plans to pursue all legal options available to her to uphold her entitlements and ensure government accountability for their actions," the release notes.

"One attorney, a legal representative, added in the statement: "If equipped, masked, government officers are snatching American nationals off the street as they travel to work and throwing them in unmarked vehicles, you can only conceive what these officers must be prepared to do to our foreign-born residents and people who choose to speak out against them."

"The journalist was taken to the ground, struck, restrained, and her pants were pulled down revealing her bare buttocks," Thomson said. "No one should be treated like that in this city, in this country or any other place in the globe."

ICE, the federal agency, and the border agency did not provide a prompt reply to requests for comment from the media.