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Attorneys representing a producer from Chicago's local TV network who was temporarily detained by government officers last week describe the event as "an occurrence that ought to alarm and horrify every person in this nation".

Details of the Arrest

Debbie Brockman, a US citizen and WGN employee, was arrested on Friday by government officers during an ICE operation in a North Side Chicago area. Footage from the location show the producer being pushed down by officers before she is restrained and put in a vehicle.

At the time, a government spokesperson claimed that Brockman "hurled items at border patrol's car" and was "detained for assault on a federal law enforcement officer".

Subsequently that day, WGN announced that Brockman had been released from federal custody and that no accusations had been pressed against her.

Legal Team's Reaction

In a statement issued by lawyers acting for Brockman on Tuesday, her legal team disputed the official version. They stated they "strongly refute any claim that she attacked anyone" and that "Brockman was the one who was physically attacked by officers on her way to work" on 10 October.

Her lawyers say that at the moment of the arrest, Brockman was "not acting in any official role as an staff member for WGN" but that she was just "heading to the bus stop as part of her morning commute when she was attacked by Border Patrol agents.

"Brockman, who is a US Citizen native to the US, was violently detained on Foster Avenue," the statement adds. "As this happened, bystanders on the street began filming the incident and asked her her name."

The statement says that she informed the onlookers her name and that she worked at the station, in the hopes that "someone would inform her employer so coworkers would know that she would not be arriving at work that day", her attorneys said.

Consequences and Legal Action

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

"She has not been accused with any crimes and she intends to explore all legal avenues available to her to uphold her entitlements and hold the federal authorities accountable for their actions," the statement adds.

"Brad Thomson, one of her attorneys, commented in the release: "If armed, covered, government officers are taking American nationals off the street as they walk to work and throwing them in non-descript cars, you can only conceive what these officers must be prepared to do to our foreign-born residents and individuals who dare to speak out against them."

"The journalist was taken to the ground, struck, restrained, and her pants were lowered exposing her bare buttocks," Thomson stated. "No one should be treated like that in this metropolis, in this nation or any other place in the globe."

Immigration authorities, the Department of Homeland Security, and the border agency did not provide a prompt reply to requests for comment from news outlets.