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Attorneys acting for a journalist from Chicago's local TV network who was briefly held by federal agents last week describe the event as "something that should concern and horrify every person in this country".

Details of the Detainment

The journalist, a American national and WGN employee, was taken into custody on Friday by government officers during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement action in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood. Footage from the location depict the producer being pushed down by officers before she is restrained and placed in a vehicle.

At the time, a homeland security official claimed that the individual "hurled items at an official vehicle" and was "placed under arrest for assault on a federal law enforcement officer".

Subsequently that day, the television station confirmed that Brockman had been freed from detention and that no charges had been pressed against her.

Attorney's Response

In a statement issued by lawyers representing Brockman on Tuesday, her representatives challenged the government's account. They stated they "adamantly deny 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 attorneys explain that at the moment of the detainment, Brockman was "not acting in any professional capacity as an staff member for WGN" but that she was just "walking to the bus stop as part of her morning commute when she was confronted by federal officers.

"Brockman, who is a American citizen native to the US, was forcibly held on a city street," the statement adds. "As this happened, individuals on the street began filming the incident 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 "a person would notify her employer so coworkers would know that she would not be arriving at work that day", her attorneys stated.

Consequences and Legal Action

According to her lawyers, Brockman was kept in government detention for about several hours before being released.

"The individual has not been accused with any crimes and she plans to explore all legal avenues available to her to vindicate her rights and ensure government accountability for their actions," the statement notes.

"Brad Thomson, one of her attorneys, added in the release: "When armed, masked, federal agents are taking American nationals off the street as they travel to work and placing them in non-descript cars, you can only conceive what these agents must be willing to do to our foreign-born residents and individuals who choose to speak out against them."

"Ms Brockman was taken to the ground, struck, restrained, and her trousers were lowered revealing her bare buttocks," Thomson said. "Not anyone should be handled like that in this metropolis, in this nation or any other place in the world."

Immigration authorities, the Department of Homeland Security, and the border agency did not immediately respond to inquiries from news outlets.