Reporter struck in hand by pepper ball while filming at Illinois ICE protest

Freelance reporter Charles Thrush was shot in the hand with a pepper ball while covering a protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Illinois, on Sept. 26, 2025.

Thrush detailed the incident in a sworn declaration filed Oct. 6 as part of a federal lawsuit brought by him, other Chicago-area journalists and press groups. The complaint accuses President Donald Trump, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, top immigration officials and Attorney General Pam Bondi of unlawful violence against journalists and protesters at the ongoing Broadview demonstrations.

Thrush, a 22-year-old journalism student at DePaul University freelancing for the nonprofit news organization Block Club Chicago, said he and other clearly identified members of the press were repeatedly targeted by federal officers using chemical agents and crowd-control munitions.

"Federal officers shot pepperballs and tear gas at me and other journalists as well as at protesters who seemed to pose no threat,” Thrush wrote.

In his declaration, Thrush said officers fired on demonstrators and media without warning, often as people were moving away from the facility. While filming from a distance, holding his camera near his face, Thrush was struck in the center of his left hand by a pepper ball fired by an officer who emerged from behind a fence.

“I was not threatening anyone in any way when I was shot,” Thrush wrote. “I had not been given any instructions to move.”

Unlike previous protests, no dispersal warnings were issued before force was used, according to the declaration. Thrush said Block Club Chicago photographer Colin Boyle was also hit with a pepper ball, and a tear gas canister was thrown directly at another clearly credentialed photographer from just 15 feet away.

Thrush reported that the exposure from the pepper ball, as well as tear gas, caused burning on his skin for about 12 hours. Though he had planned to return to report the next day, he ultimately stayed away out of fear.

“I still plan to regularly return to the Broadview facility to continue reporting,” he wrote, “but will only do so if I am able to keep myself safe, which I am not currently certain is possible.”

DHS did not respond to a Tracker request for comment. In a press release on Sept. 26, the agency 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 — and later arrested a reporter.