A CBS Chicago reporter, Asal Rezaei, claims she was pepper-bombed by ICE agents in Broadview, Illinois, on Sunday morning. She claimed the agents fired the pepper bomb, aiming at her truck, which had its windows open.
She was right outside the detention facility and was just doing her job. She reported there was no crowd or protests during that time, so the ICE agents were unprovoked when they targeted her.
According to the police report, she was just driving towards the facility when a masked ICE agent shot her vehicle with a pepper ball, leaving a mark on the vehicle. The pepper bomb had chemicals, and Asal Rezaei had inhaled a lot of it.
She reported she was vomiting after the attack and had to get out of the vehicle. She could not speak or breathe at that time as she was constantly coughing. She mentioned she doesn’t know who stuck her, as reported by CBS Chicago.
Her report states, “At this moment, it’s not really clear why that officer took a shot at me. My car has been here several times, although I did not identify myself verbally as a member of the press. There were no protests going on. There was actually nobody there except one other person who was a member of the fire department.”
As per Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills’ statement, the investigation is ongoing, and he has confirmed this was an unprovoked attack. The department will be cooperating with the DHS. Rezaei declined any medical attention.
The pepper ball had a white powder, leaving marks on her windshield. ICE usually uses pepper sprays, smoke bombs, and pepper bombs against unruly crowds. She reported her face was on fire for at least ten minutes or so.
She stated that the ICE agents saw that her window was open and launched the projectile attack. Since there were no protestors around, the attack did not make sense to her. She was just driving by to check the scene, as she had been doing that for weeks now. She was stuck 50 feet from the entrance.
Netizens are angry at the ICE agent and condemn how they have been parading around the community and moving around in unmarked vehicles. One user commented, “Prayers for that reporter. ICE has really gone too far!”
Another one commented, “Where are republicans with the big government rants? Is this ok? It’s not!” One user appreciated the news reporter and CBS, “thank you for covering what @icegov is doing since they are doing nothing but terrorizing people and spreading misinformation.” Another supporter added, “That’s horrific. CBSNews, this needs to go national.”
