A recently surfaced video from suburban Chicago shows an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent firing a projectile into the head of a Presbyterian pastor during a peaceful demonstration, intensifying public outrage over the Trump administration’s increasingly violent immigration enforcement tactics.
The footage, captured on September 19 outside the Broadview ICE Processing Center, shows Reverend David Black praying and speaking toward a group of armed agents positioned on the building’s rooftop. Seconds later, one of the agents aims and fires a pepper ball—a chemical agent that causes irritation similar to pepper spray—striking the pastor in the head with a puff of smoke. Black collapses to his knees, coughing and clutching his face as protesters rush to help him.
“I invited them to repentance,” Black told Religion News Service after the incident. He said the agents appeared to find the act humorous. “We could hear them laughing.”
According to Black, he continues to experience respiratory issues weeks later. The incident, documented in footage filmed by writer and organizer Kelly Hayes, has sparked condemnation from human rights organizations and civil liberties groups, who accuse federal authorities of targeting faith leaders and peaceful demonstrators.
“I had only been at the protest for a few minutes on September 19,” Hayes said of the moment she witnessed the assault. “When I arrived, he was standing on the sidewalk, arms outstretched, speaking to agents positioned on the roof. He was appealing to their humanity—calling them toward conscience and redemption.”
The Broadview facility, located just outside Chicago, has long been a site of weekly vigils and protests led by immigrant advocates and clergy. But tensions have escalated in recent months as the Trump administration has intensified federal raids and broadened ICE’s enforcement authority. Demonstrations have drawn heavy law enforcement presence, with agents increasingly using projectile weapons and chemical munitions.
In the wake of the shooting, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced that Black and other demonstrators have filed an emergency court motion against the Trump administration, seeking to halt what they describe as “illegal and brutal suppression” of free speech and religious expression. The lawsuit, joined by journalists and faith leaders, alleges violations of constitutional rights by ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The footage also drew national condemnation online after it began circulating widely this week. “Any elected Democrat who doesn’t support abolishing ICE should hang their heads in shame and should be immediately primaried. This is rogue agency/fascist stuff from ICE/CBP/DHS agents,” wrote Zeteo editor-in-chief Mehdi Hasan.
ICE officials have not commented publicly on the incident. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency, has denied allegations of excessive force in similar cases, insisting its agents act within the bounds of federal law. But civil rights advocates argue the video leaves little ambiguity.
“What happened to Reverend Black is not an accident—it’s the logical outcome of an administration that has criminalized compassion and silenced moral dissent,” said a Chicago-based immigration lawyer familiar with the case.
The assault on Pastor Black fits a broader pattern of religious figures facing government retaliation for protesting immigration enforcement. In recent years, clergy members from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths have been arrested or detained at ICE facilities around the country. Muslim community leaders such as Dallas activist Marwan Marouf and faith organizer Ayman Soliman have been accused of terrorism with minimal evidence, part of what advocates say is a campaign of intimidation against communities opposing federal raids.
At the same time, DHS social media accounts have published posts citing Christian scripture to justify their actions, claiming biblical authority for harsh enforcement measures—a practice faith leaders have called hypocritical and dangerous.
In Chicago, ICE operations have intensified over the past several months. Witnesses reported that hundreds of agents swarmed a South Shore apartment building during a nighttime raid last month, detaining residents and zip-tying children. The Department of Homeland Security claimed the operation resulted in hundreds of arrests of undocumented immigrants. However, the Trump administration has repeatedly been accused of inflating arrest figures to project a tougher image on immigration enforcement.
Tensions between federal authorities and local officials have continued to rise. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump publicly called for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to be jailed over their criticism of ICE operations, further escalating his attacks on Democratic leaders who challenge his administration’s immigration policies.
Faith leaders and human rights advocates see the Broadview shooting as emblematic of a broader moral crisis in the United States’ approach to immigration enforcement. The image of a pastor kneeling in pain after being struck by a chemical weapon has become a symbol of both the human toll of federal violence and the resilience of those who oppose it.
“I invited them to repentance,” Reverend Black said—words that have since echoed across social media and protests nationwide, a haunting reminder of how far the government’s use of force has strayed from the principles of justice and humanity that he invoked in prayer.
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