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Legal representatives acting for a producer from Chicago's WGN television station who was temporarily detained by government officers last week characterize the event as "an occurrence that ought to alarm and horrify every person in this country".

Particulars of the Detainment

The journalist, a American national 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 scene show Brockman being pushed down by two agents before she is handcuffed and put in a vehicle.

At the time, a homeland security official claimed that the individual "hurled items at border patrol's car" and was "detained for attacking an officer".

Later on Friday, WGN confirmed that Brockman had been released from federal custody and that no accusations had been filed against her.

Attorney's Reaction

In a statement released by lawyers acting for Brockman on Tuesday, her representatives disputed the government's account. They declared they "strongly refute any claim that she attacked anyone" and that "Brockman was the one who was physically attacked by federal agents on her way to work" on 10 October.

Her attorneys say that at the moment of the arrest, the journalist was "not acting in any professional capacity as an employee for the station" but that she was just "heading to the bus stop as part of her daily travel when she was attacked by federal officers.

"Brockman, who is a US Citizen born in this country, was violently detained on a city street," the release continues. "As this occurred, individuals on the street began recording the event and asked her her name."

The release indicates that she informed the onlookers her name and that she was employed at the station, 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 Next Steps

Based on her legal team, the journalist was kept in federal custody for about seven hours before being freed.

"She has not been accused with any offenses and she plans to pursue all legal options available to her to uphold her entitlements and ensure government accountability for their actions," the statement adds.

"One attorney, one of her attorneys, added in the release: "If equipped, masked, government officers are taking US citizens off the street as they walk to work and throwing them in unmarked vehicles, you can only imagine what these officers must be prepared to do to our foreign-born residents and people who choose to speak out against them."

"The journalist was taken to the ground, battered, handcuffed, and her pants were lowered revealing her bare buttocks," the lawyer said. "No one should be treated like that in this city, in this country or any other place in the world."

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