A Presbyterian minister is disputing the Trump administration’s characterization of protests outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Chicago, where federal officers fired pepper balls at his head, sending him to his knees.
After footage of last month’s attack went viral, a top Homeland Security official claimed that video from the scene did not show that the “agitators” who were blocking an ICE vehicle from leaving the building and “impeding operations.”
Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed officers repeatedly warned them to move before “rioters began throwing rocks, bottles and launching fireworks at the law enforcement officers on the roof.” She also put quotes around “pastor” and accused him of flipping off Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
“It’s categorically false. There were no ICE vehicles attempting to leave the facility,” Rev. David Black told CNN Thursday. “I was standing to the side in a gesture of prayer, in praying verbally for those ICE officers and those detained inside.”
“I find it interesting that this individual believes I flipped them the bird,” he said. “I have been hoping that the Holy Spirit will descend upon them and convert their hearts and minds. As to the extent the Holy Spirit appears as a bird, perhaps there is spiritual truth to her claims.”
He also disputed that ICE agents warned the crowd and accused them of laughing at him and others on the street.
“We could hear them laughing as they were shooting us from the roof, and it was deeply disturbing,” according to Black.
Donald Trump’s administration surged federal officers to the Democratic-led city as protesters continued to demonstrate outside the Broadview ICE facility, a flashpoint for protest against the president’s mass deportation agenda. The president has deployed hundreds of National Guard troops to the state, which a federal judge has temporarily blocked as a multi-state legal challenge against the administration’s federalized troops plays out.
But officers there appear to be “poorly supervised and trained” and plagued by a “deep demoralization” after weeks of protests, according to Black, a senior pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago in Woodlawn.
Video footage shows a line of masked officers in combat gear pushing through a line of protesters and spraying Black in the face with a chemical spray.
Protesters were “kettled” by officers and unable to escape, he said. By the end, Black was “drenched” by chemical agents, he told CNN.
“It was indiscriminate, and it was vicious,” Black said.
Black’s account is central to a lawsuit filed by Chicago reporters and protesters accusing the administration of unconstitutional threats to their First Amendment rights and religious freedoms with “a pattern of extreme brutality” designed to “silence the press and civilians.”
Agents “dressed in full combat gear” have “indiscriminately” tossed flash grenades and tear gas and fired guns loaded with chemical irritants and rubber bullets against demonstrators in the Chicago area, the complaint says.
Protesters and reporters have faced “serious injuries” and “some are being randomly singled out for arrest” and detained inside the ICE facility, where they “are detained incommunicado for hours,” according to the complaint.
On Thursday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order that blocks officers from firing rubber bullets, tear gas and other chemical munitions at clearly identified members of the press as well as protesters and faith leaders who aren’t posing any immediate threat to law enforcement.
Illinois District Judge Sara Ellis also specifically blocked officers from firing munitions that “strike the head, neck, groin, spine, or female breast, or striking any person with a vehicle,” as well as “pulling or shoving a person to the ground, tackling, or body slamming” demonstrators who aren’t harming others.
In a statement to The Independent, McLaughlin said Homeland Security “is taking reasonable and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers.”
“We remind members of the media to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots and remind journalists that covering unlawful activities in the field does come with risks — though our officers take every reasonable precaution to mitigate those dangers to those exercising protected First Amendment rights,” she added.
“Anyone who actively obstructs law enforcement in the performance of their sworn duties will face consequences, which could include arrest,” she said.
