Three masked ICE agents in tactical gear stand on a rooftop above a Chicago area immigration protest, and below them is a cluster of people singing and praying outside the Broadview processing facility. Among them is the Rev. David Black of First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, in black with a clerical collar, arms lifted toward the agents.
As he lowers his hands, an agent raises a launcher and fires. A pepper ball pops against Black’s head, a white puff blooms, and the pastor drops to his knees, clutching his face. The clip, shared Wednesday on X by an immigration policy analyst, has spread across social media, prompting outrage from clergy, civil rights lawyers, and local officials who say federal forces have turned a protest site into a war zone.
Black says he was praying for the officers at the moment he was hit. In an account given to Religion News Service, the pastor described looking up at the rooftop and inviting the agents to repentance, essentially offering an altar call in the street. “I invited them to repentance,” he said, adding that he then heard laughter from the roof after he was struck. For faith leaders who have been a consistent presence at Broadview, the image of a minister shot while praying crystallizes a deeper complaint, that federal tactics are chilling religious expression alongside political dissent.
ICE just coldly shot an unarmed PRIEST in the head w a pepper ball when he (and everyone around him) clearly posed no threat. Source: John Pfaff pic.twitter.com/isy1Flgl6F
— TheSidewalkSchool (@SidewalkSchool) October 8, 2025
The rooftop shot is not an isolated incident; it is part of a pattern that has drawn national scrutiny. Over the past two weeks, agents at Broadview have repeatedly deployed tear gas and pepper balls to clear demonstrators, according to on-the-ground reporting and viral footage. Journalists have documented a spike in arrests around the facility as tensions escalated, while multiple videos show chemical agents and force used on protesters, journalists, and legal observers. Chicago area officials say two local investigations are underway into federal conduct at the site.
The crackdown is unfolding as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the region and touts an operation dubbed Midway Blitz. During her visit, thirteen protesters were arrested outside the facility, and immigrant rights groups reported agents firing tear gas near a grocery store and a residential block, incidents that affected families and children. Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker condemned the tactics as inhumane, and Broadview’s mayor publicly clashed with federal officials over policing near the facility. DHS has defended the operations as necessary, even as public backlash grows.
Civil liberties groups are moving from documenting incidents to suing over them. The ACLU of Illinois announced a lawsuit alleging First Amendment violations against protesters and the press at Broadview, and clergy, including Rev. Black have joined a broader legal challenge targeting the use of chemical agents, “less lethal” rounds, and aggressive crowd control. Filing attorneys argue that federal forces have repeatedly escalated against peaceful assemblies, and that religious leaders and journalists have been singled out or swept up despite clearly identifying themselves.
Broadview has long been a site of weekly vigils and interfaith witness, but the atmosphere shifted after the administration expanded interior enforcement and leaned on ICE for visible shows of force.
