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Attorneys representing a journalist from Chicago's WGN television station who was briefly held by federal agents last week describe the event as "an occurrence that ought to concern and frighten every person in this nation".

Details of the Detainment

The journalist, a American national and WGN employee, was taken into custody on Friday by government officers during an ICE action in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood. Footage from the scene depict Brockman being pushed down by two agents before she is handcuffed and put in a van.

At the time, a homeland security official claimed that the individual "threw objects at an official vehicle" and was "placed under arrest for attacking an officer".

Subsequently that day, WGN announced that their employee had been freed from detention and that no accusations had been pressed against her.

Legal Team's Response

In a news release released by lawyers representing Brockman on earlier this week, her legal team disputed the government's account. They declared they "strongly refute any allegation 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 attorneys say that at the moment of the arrest, Brockman was "not acting in any professional capacity as an employee for the station" but that she was just "heading to the transit point as part of her morning commute when she was attacked by federal officers.

"Brockman, who is a American citizen native to the US, was forcibly held on a city street," the release adds. "As this happened, individuals on the street began recording the event and asked her her name."

The statement indicates that she informed the onlookers her name and that she was employed at WGN, in the hopes that "a person would inform her workplace so colleagues would know that she would not be coming at work that day", her attorneys said.

Aftermath and Next Steps

According to her legal team, Brockman was held in federal custody for about seven hours before being released.

"The individual has not been charged with any crimes and she intends to explore all legal avenues available to her to vindicate her rights and hold the federal authorities accountable for their conduct," the release adds.

"Brad Thomson, one of her attorneys, commented in the release: "When armed, covered, federal agents are snatching US citizens off the street as they walk to work and throwing them in non-descript cars, you can only imagine what these agents must be willing to do to our foreign-born residents and individuals who dare to protest against them."

"The journalist was forced down, struck, handcuffed, and her pants were pulled down revealing her bare buttocks," the lawyer said. "No one should be handled like that in this metropolis, in this nation or any other place in the world."

Immigration authorities, the Department of Homeland Security, and the border agency did not immediately respond to inquiries from the media.