(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Rev. David Black is among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against ICE that accuses agents of using “violent force” on peaceful protesters in Chicago.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois filed their lawsuit this week, accusing ICE of “escalating” violence against protesters outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois. Videos from a protest last month include shots of Black being pepper-sprayed and hit at one point with a “pellet” projectile.
Black has posted video himself from the incident, accusing agents of “assaulting” him.
“Still waiting for [DHS] and [Kristi Noem] to apologize,” the pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Chicago wrote. “This video shows ICE officers shoving me and sprayed me in the face with a large quantity of chemical weapons. I was standing there incapacitated and vulnerable from a barrage of chemical pellets they had shot me with moments earlier. ICE gave no orders or warnings. All around me, they were slamming peaceful protesters into fences and into the ground, and moving in formation to isolate and assault anyone who was vulnerable.”
Black claimed he was shot “seven times,” including in the head, with “chemical pellets.”
“This is how the Trump administration treats the public witness of Christian faith. This and worse has been happening every day in Broadview,” he wrote.
In other posts, the pastor referenced President Donald Trump’s “fascist regime” and called for the ICE facility to be turned into a preschool.
The ACLU of Illinois accused ICE agents of “brutally” suppressing free speech, calling protests at the Illinois facility peaceful.
“In recent weeks, however, the Trump Administration has sent federal officials and agents to brutally suppress free speech at the site through intentional and escalating violence, including the dangerous and indiscriminate use of near-lethal weapons such as tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper-balls, flash grenades, and other unwarranted and disproportionate tactics,” they wrote.
The lawsuit names Noem, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection Gregory Bovino, and President Donald Trump as defendants.
The post WATCH: ICE Sued After Videos Capture Pastor Shot With ‘Chemical Pellets’ at Peaceful Protest first appeared on Mediaite.
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