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Attorneys representing a producer from Chicago's WGN television station who was briefly held by government officers last week characterize the incident as "something that should alarm and frighten every person in this country".

Particulars of the Arrest

The journalist, a US citizen and WGN employee, was arrested on Friday by federal agents during an ICE operation in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood. Footage from the scene depict Brockman being pushed down by two agents before she is handcuffed and placed in a vehicle.

At the moment, a government spokesperson stated that Brockman "hurled items at border patrol's car" and was "placed under arrest for attacking an officer".

Subsequently that day, the television station confirmed that Brockman had been freed from detention and that no charges had been filed against her.

Attorney's Reaction

In a statement issued by attorneys acting for the journalist on earlier this week, her legal team challenged the official version. They declared they "strongly refute any claim that she attacked anyone" and that "Brockman was the one who was violently assaulted by federal agents on her way to work" on the date in question.

Her lawyers explain that at the moment of the detainment, the journalist was "not acting in any professional capacity as an staff member for WGN" but that she was just "heading to the transit point as part of her daily travel when she was attacked by Border Patrol agents.

"Brockman, who is a American citizen born in this country, was forcibly held on Foster Avenue," the release continues. "As this occurred, individuals on the street began recording the incident and asked her her name."

The statement says that she informed the onlookers her name and that she was employed at WGN, in the hopes that "a person would notify her employer so colleagues would know that she would not be coming at work that day", her lawyers said.

Consequences and Next Steps

Based on her lawyers, the journalist was held in federal custody for about seven hours before being released.

"She has not been charged with any crimes and she intends to explore all legal avenues available to her to uphold her rights and hold the federal authorities accountable for their actions," the statement adds.

"Brad Thomson, one of her attorneys, added in the statement: "If equipped, masked, federal agents are snatching American nationals off the street as they walk to work and placing them in unmarked vehicles, you can only imagine what these agents must be willing to do to our immigrant neighbors and individuals who dare to protest against them."

"The journalist was forced down, battered, handcuffed, and her pants were pulled down exposing her bare buttocks," the lawyer said. "No one should be handled like that in this city, in this nation or anywhere else in the world."

ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the border agency did not provide a prompt reply to inquiries from news outlets.