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Legal representatives representing a journalist from the city of Chicago's WGN television station who was briefly held by government officers last week describe the event as "something that should concern and frighten every person in this nation".

Particulars of the Detainment

Debbie Brockman, a American national and WGN employee, was taken into custody on Friday by government officers during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement action in a North Side Chicago area. Videos from the scene show Brockman being forced to the ground by two agents before she is restrained and put in a van.

At the moment, a government spokesperson claimed that Brockman "hurled items at border patrol's car" and was "detained for assault on a federal law enforcement officer".

Subsequently that day, the television station confirmed that their employee had been released from federal custody and that no accusations had been filed against her.

Legal Team's Response

In a news release issued by lawyers acting for the journalist on earlier this week, her legal team challenged the government's account. They declared they "adamantly deny any claim that she assaulted 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 say that at the moment of the arrest, the journalist was "not acting in any official role as an employee for WGN" but that she was just "heading to the transit point as part of her morning commute when she was attacked by Border Patrol agents.

"The individual, who is a US Citizen native to the US, was forcibly held on a city street," the release adds. "As this occurred, individuals on the street began recording the event and asked her her name."

The release says that she informed the bystanders her name and that she was employed at the station, in the hopes that "someone would notify her workplace so coworkers would know that she would not be coming at work that day", her attorneys stated.

Consequences and Next Steps

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

"The individual has not been accused with any crimes and she intends to pursue all legal avenues open to her to uphold her rights and hold the federal authorities accountable for their conduct," the statement notes.

"Brad Thomson, a legal representative, added in the release: "When armed, masked, federal agents are taking American nationals off the street as they walk to work and placing them in unmarked vehicles, you can only imagine what these officers must be prepared to do to our foreign-born residents and individuals who choose to protest against them."

"The journalist was forced down, struck, restrained, and her trousers were lowered revealing her uncovered skin," Thomson stated. "No one should be handled like that in this metropolis, in this nation or anywhere else in the world."

Immigration authorities, the Department of Homeland Security, and the border agency did not provide a prompt reply to requests for comment from news outlets.