A Presbyterian minister struck by ICE projectiles while protesting outside a Chicago-area immigrant facility has joined a lawsuit accusing the federal government of “brutally” suppressing free speech.
Rev. David Black, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, is among the plaintiffs in a 52-page suit the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division. Fellow plaintiffs include journalism organizations and outlets, individual journalists, clergy members, and protesters who found themselves at the business end of ICE rubber bullets or tear gas canisters in what they charged were unprovoked attacks.
On Wednesday, video of the Sept. 19 alleged attack on Black taken by a fellow demonstrator went viral. It showed the pastor in clerical garb, standing before the chain-link fence outside Broadview with his arms outstretched, looking skyward to three men in fatigues stationed on the roof. He began praying for the masked agents, inviting them to pray for themselves, he said.
“I invited them to repentance,” Black told Religion News Service later. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”
The agents answered by showering him with chemical bullets, knocking him to his knees, he said.
“Without any warning, and without any order or request that I and others disperse, I was suddenly fired upon by ICE officers,” Black said in the ACLU’s statement. “In rapid fire, I was hit seven times on my arms, face and torso with exploding pellets that contained some kind of chemical agent. It was clear to me that the officers were aiming for my head, which they struck twice.”
While a protester doused his eyes with water, “We could hear them laughing,” Black told RNS.
The ACLU is seeking an emergency restraining order to “stop the government’s illegal and brutal suppression” of First Amendment rights, the organization said. The Broadview facility has been the site of peaceful protests for decades, the ACLU said, and this summer has been no exception as the Trump administration sent in heavily armed, camo-clad agents toting weaponry in its operation the White House dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz.”
“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,” the ACLU said in a statement.
“Never in modern times has the federal government undermined bedrock constitutional protections on this scale, or usurped states’ police power by directing federal agents to carry out an illegal mission against the people for the government’s own benefit,” the ACLU complaint stated.
On Wednesday, Texas National Guard troops arrived in Chicago.
With News Wire Services
