WGN-TV news producer detained by ICE agents

Comes as immigration blitz continues through Chicago area

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that a videographer and producer from Nexstar-owned WGN-TV was violently detained by ICE agents during a raid on the North Side Friday morning. 

Debbie Brockman, who has been working for the station’s creative department since 2011, was detained by agents for “obstruction” after they arrested a person in the Lincoln Square neighborhood, in the vicinity of Foster and Lincoln. She was arrested at 8:30 a.m. CT  and was put face down on the ground and put into an unmarked silver van with an unidentified man with onlookers shouting epithets at agents. 

“I walk out the front door of the condo, she’s laying on the ground in the street and they’re wrestling with her, trying to get her hands behind her back,” said Josh Thomas, a nearby resident who works at a local law firm. “They said they were detaining her for obstruction. She said, ‘I didn’t obstruct.'” The van later sped off with both people in the van, nearly hitting a CTA bus. 

This comes as a coalition of journalists sued the Department of Homeland Security, alleging they were facing violence against them while covering the immigration raids and ICE activity in Broadview and in other places in the Chicago area as a reporter for CBS Chicago was injured after a federal agent threw a canister of tear gas into her work vehicle. Broadview police have launched an investigation into the incident. 

On Thursday, a judge issued a restraining order against ICE and DHS agents. It is not yet known if they would be held in contempt for today’s incident.

WGN officials released a short statement this afternoon stating (from ABC 7 Chicago):

The station said Friday night that Brockman was released from custody without charges and would not have any further comment. 

The story led off WGN’s 4 p.m. newscast Friday, but blurred her face and declined to name the employee from their own station because of “station policy.” The story didn’t appear on WGN’s website until 4:52 p.m, but other local outlets including the aforementioned ABC 7 and Chicago Tribune, the Sun-Times, and Fox-owned WFLD-TV, reported on the incident earlier. Clips were also shared on social media and as you can see above, YouTube. WGN’s reporting was certainly noteworthy, as if they said “we didn’t know her”.

It is unknown if Brockman was on the job at the time of her arrest.

You have to wonder if WGN bosses and Nexstar CEO Perry Sook really have reporters’ backs after these incidents. Late last month, Nexstar temporarily yanked Jimmy Kimmel Live from its ABC affiliates after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said he would consider yanking licenses after Kimmel made comments about the person who killed conservative activist and personality Charlie Kirk. ABC pulled Kimmel off the air for a few nights but when the network restored his show, Nexstar and another broadcaster (Sinclair) kept him off the air for a few more days. Sook is seeking approval from the FCC to buy fellow broadcaster Tegna, which would blow past the 39 percent cap. Republicans have been generally supportive of deregulation than Democrats have, and Sook is doing all he can to please the Trump administration, as they are the main drivers behind this immigration crackdown, which is swooping up innocent people in its wake. 

Oddly enough, the Radio Television Digital News Association, or RTDNA, who are usually advocates for journalism, have not publicly said anything about these recent incidents involving those who work in the profession.