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Legal representatives acting for a producer from Chicago's WGN television station who was temporarily detained by government officers last week describe the incident as "something that should alarm and horrify every person in this country".

Details of the Detainment

The journalist, a US citizen and WGN employee, was arrested on the weekend by government officers during an ICE operation in a North Side Chicago area. Footage from the location depict Brockman being pushed down by officers before she is handcuffed and placed in a vehicle.

At the moment, a homeland security official stated that Brockman "threw objects at an official vehicle" and was "detained for attacking an officer".

Subsequently that day, WGN announced that Brockman had been freed from detention and that no charges had been filed against her.

Attorney's Reaction

In a news release released by lawyers acting for the journalist on Tuesday, her legal team challenged the government's account. They stated they "strongly refute any allegation that she assaulted anyone" and that "She was the one who was physically attacked by federal agents on her way to work" on 10 October.

Her attorneys explain that at the moment of the arrest, Brockman was "not performing in any official role as an employee for WGN" but that she was just "walking to the transit point as part of her daily travel when she was confronted by Border Patrol agents.

"The individual, who is a American citizen native to the US, was forcibly held on Foster Avenue," the statement continues. "As this happened, individuals on the street began recording the event and asked her her name."

The statement indicates that she told 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 arriving at work that day", her attorneys stated.

Consequences and Legal Action

Based on her lawyers, Brockman was held in government detention for about several hours before being released.

"The individual has not been accused with any crimes and she plans to pursue all legal avenues available to her to vindicate her entitlements and ensure government accountability for their actions," the statement adds.

"One attorney, a legal representative, added in the statement: "When armed, covered, federal agents are taking American nationals off the street as they travel to work and throwing them in unmarked vehicles, you can only imagine what these agents must be prepared to do to our immigrant neighbors and individuals who dare to protest against them."

"The journalist was forced down, battered, handcuffed, and her trousers were lowered exposing her bare buttocks," Thomson stated. "Not anyone should be handled like that in this metropolis, in this country or any other place in the world."

Immigration authorities, the federal agency, and the border agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment from news outlets.