Journalist grabbed, hit with pepper ball by federal agents at Illinois ICE protest

Journalist Steve Held said a federal agent grabbed him from behind as another shot him in the groin with a pepper ball while Held covered a protest outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Illinois, on Sept. 19, 2025.

Held, co-founder and reporter for the investigative outlet Unraveled Press, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that demonstrators had gathered for weeks outside the facility, where detainees are held and processed ahead of deportation.

The demonstration that day was relatively calm, and there had been no dispersal order, when agents suddenly advanced on protesters, Held recounted. “It just popped off in that second.”

Held watched ICE agents run after somebody near him. Then, one agent grabbed Held’s hoodie and swung him around from behind while another aimed a pepper ball gun at his crotch.

“I wasn’t even really sure what happened,” Held said. “I just knew I got whipped around and shot.”

Held said he believed at least one of the officers knew who he was, as he has been covering ICE activities since May. He was wearing a press badge at the time, but said the incident prompted him to get a helmet and other gear to mark himself as media.

Even with the extra press-labeled apparel, though, Held was arrested a week later while covering another protest outside the facility. His Unraveled co-founder Raven Geary was also shot in the face with a pepper ball on Sept. 26.

Held said he believes the encounters are part of a broader effort by immigration and federal agents to intimidate journalists.

“They want to dissuade people from being there, from getting close,” he said. “Fewer press out there makes it easier for them to hide what they’re doing.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a Tracker request for comment. In a press release on Sept. 26, DHS described the demonstrators as “rioters,” some of whom were reportedly chanting “shoot ICE.”

“These violent threats and smears about ICE must stop,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. She also called on Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to “condemn these riots and tone down their rhetoric about ICE.”

Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson sent a letter to DHS, Block Club Chicago reported, accusing ICE officials of “making war” on her community. Thompson asked that the agency stop “deploying chemical arms such as tear gas, pepper spray, etc. against American citizens, our residents, and our first responders.”

According to a Sept. 27 news release, the village of Broadview said that in retaliation for Thompson’s letter, “ICE agents this morning informed the Broadview Police Department that there will be ‘a sh*t show’ in Broadview today.”

Indeed, federal officers responded to protests with chemical irritants and crowd-control munitions that day — affecting multiple journalists.