Broadview’s top cop says he’s opened an investigation into federal agents following an allegedly unprovoked attack on a CBS News Chicago reporter’s vehicle Sunday.
Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills said in a statement that chemical agents were “fired from the direction” of federal agents toward a reporter’s vehicle. The reporter who was targeted declined medical attention.
“The Broadview Police Department expects the full cooperation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security into our criminal investigation,” Mills said in the statement.
In a report Sunday night, CBS said reporter Asal Rezaei was alone, driving her truck to the facility early Sunday when a masked federal agent shot pepper balls at her from about 50 feet inside the fence. There were no protests or protesters on scene at the time.
The chemical round hit Rezaei’s driver’s-side panel, causing the chemical powder to fill the inside of her truck, leaving white residue on her windshield and causing her face to feel “on fire for at least the last 10 minutes or so,” Rezaei told Broadview police, according to the report. The chemical also caused her to vomit once outside her truck.
“At this moment it’s not really clear why that officer took a shot at me,” she said in a police report cited by CBS News Chicago. “My car has been here several times, although I did not identify myself verbally as a member of the press. There were no protests going on. … There was actually nobody there except one other person that was a member of a fire department that was there checking in on the buildings around this area.”
In a statement Monday, the Chicago Headline Club — the nation’s largest chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists — said it was aware of several incidents of reporters being shot intentionally with bean bags, chemical munitions and the detention of Chicago journalist Steve Held Saturday.
The group demanded that DHS head Kristi Noem, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons and Border Patrol Commander of Operations At Large Gregory Bovino “take immediate action” to ensure reporters aren’t targeted by federal agents.
“Journalists have a constitutionally-protected right to cover stories as afforded by the First Amendment,” the group said in a statement. “No federal or state agency should interfere with that right either by threats or action taken against working journalists.”
In a statement Monday, a DHS representative said “absolutely,” no one was “attacked.”
“No member of the media at CBS or any other outlet was “attacked,”‘ the statement said.
“For their safety, we remind members of the media and journalists to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots. We have seen rioters throwing rocks, armed with guns, slashing tires, throwing tear gas cans and other violent acts,” the statement said.
“Secretary Noem has been clear: rioters will not stop or slow us down from removing the worst of the worst,” the statement ended with.
The news comes a day after Chicago journalist Steve Held was detained by Border Patrol agents for several hours as he filmed an arrest during a protest Saturday night. He was released without charges.
The National Lawyers Guild Chicago confirmed five of the 11 people detained Saturday night were still in federal custody. The group called agents’ attacks on the news media and protesters alike “alarming and violent.”
“The violence was an indiscriminate, unprovoked, and illegal use of force,” said Amanda Yarusso, a volunteer attorney with the National Lawyers Guild Chicago. “These unlawful actions by federal agents demonstrate this administration’s complete disregard of constitutional standards.”
Robert Held — a protester also detained Saturday night who is unrelated to Steve Held — said the actions of federal agents, including multiple “photo ops” downtown, were all meant to instill fear and infringe on demonstrators’ rights.
“What ICE is doing here has nothing to do with immigration or law enforcement,” he said. “What they’re doing is political theater designed to intimidate protesters exercising their First Amendment rights and nothing else.”
Federal agents at the facility interacted with protesters very little during the day Sunday, largely only coming to the fence on Beach Street when demonstrators used bullhorns to get their attention for family members dropping off medication and legal documents.
Kelly Rivera, 26, came from Belmont Cragin to drop off medications for her dad, who was recently arrested in Melrose Park.
He was on his way out of the corner store when they picked him up. She found out about his arrest through a video she saw on Facebook.
Rivera said he had “trauma” but was on a path to treatment, though it had never stopped him from being there for his loved ones.
“He’s always been a hard worker, a family person,” she said. “He needs treatment.”
Rivera got some numbers to help track him from agents and had spoken to him on the phone the day prior, but still didn’t have much information.
She said she had been in contact with another woman whose father was taken last week and has been moved to several facilities across the country since.
“It’s unfortunate but I feel like it’s safer for them to go back to their countries than be here in these conditions,” she said, pointing at the boarded-up windows of the facility. “I just want to follow his steps and make sure my dad is okay, that he gets home safe. … The last thing we want is for him to disappear.”
Pepper balls flew as the sun began to set, just as Mexican Consul General in Chicago Reyna Torres Mendivil arrived with members of her staff to speak with federal agents about Mexican nationals, as they have been doing regularly.