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Legal representatives representing a journalist from the city of Chicago's WGN television station who was temporarily detained by government officers last week describe the incident as "something that should alarm and frighten every person in this country".

Particulars of the Detainment

Debbie Brockman, a US citizen and station staff member, was taken into custody on Friday by federal agents during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood. Videos from the location show the producer being pushed down by officers before she is handcuffed and put in a vehicle.

At the time, a homeland security official claimed that Brockman "hurled items at an official vehicle" and was "detained for assault on a federal law enforcement officer".

Subsequently that day, the television station announced that Brockman had been released from federal custody and that no charges 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 official version. They stated 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 explain that at the moment of the detainment, Brockman was "not acting in any official role as an staff member for the station" but that she was just "walking to the transit point as part of her daily travel when she was confronted by Border Patrol agents.

"Brockman, who is a American citizen native to the US, was forcibly held on Foster Avenue," the release continues. "As this happened, individuals on the street began recording the incident and inquired her her name."

The statement says that she told the onlookers her name and that she was employed at WGN, in the hopes that "someone would notify her workplace so coworkers would know that she would not be arriving at work that day", her lawyers stated.

Consequences and Legal Action

Based on her lawyers, the journalist was kept in government detention for about seven hours before being released.

"She has not been accused with any crimes and she plans to pursue all legal avenues available to her to uphold her rights and ensure government accountability for their actions," the statement notes.

"One attorney, a legal representative, commented in the statement: "When equipped, covered, federal agents are taking US citizens off the street as they walk to work and placing them in unmarked vehicles, you can only conceive what these officers must be willing to do to our immigrant neighbors and individuals who dare to protest against them."

"The journalist was taken to the ground, battered, restrained, and her pants were pulled down exposing her uncovered skin," the lawyer said. "No one 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 provide a prompt reply to inquiries from the media.