WGN Staff Member Briefly Held During ICE Action on Chicago’s North Side, Then Set Free

CHICAGO (WGN) A WGN creative services department employee was detained by two Border Patrol officers and later released after federal agents swarmed a busy intersection on Chicago’s North Side Friday morning, at the height of rush hour.

WGN is not naming the employee, as station policy requires blurring faces and not identifying those who have not been charged with a crime.

Witnesses on site who captured the incident on video spoke to WGN about the moments leading up to the staffer’s detainment.

“I heard yelling and screaming and honking. I ran downstairs to see what was going on. It looked like Border Patrol agents in a minivan had slammed some lady to the ground. And so, I ran up to her and asked her for her name. She said she was a WGN employee,” said Josh Thomas, a witness who lives in a condo above the scene near Lincoln and Foster, in the city’s Lincoln Square neighborhood.

Thomas added that when he made his way down to the scene, around 8:30 Friday morning, he realized there was another person already detained inside the minivan being used by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. 

“I didn’t get his name, although I asked for his name,” Thomas said. “He didn’t speak very good English. They claimed that the WGN employee was obstructing justice, even though she was, like all of us, just standing there, taking video.”

Giordana Mahn told WGN-TV that she was in a cab on her way to the airport when she, too, captured the scene.

“She was walking east. We were driving west, and that’s when I took out my phone. They had just, like, tackled her and brought her into the street. That’s when I asked her, ‘What’s your name?'” Mahn said.

According to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, the WGN employee, who is also a U.S. citizen, allegedly threw objects at a Border Patrol car. She was placed under arrest for assault on a federal law enforcement officer. 

In an area with condos, apartments, and concerned neighbors, Thomas called Friday’s scene heartbreaking.

“It’s terrifying for the community. When I came back upstairs to my condo, my son was crying and asked me what was happening and if people were going to come take him,” Thomas said.

Mahn shared his sentiments, lamenting her fear for the community.

“I’m scared for my community. I’m scared for anyone who is Black or brown. You’ll see in the video, the WGN [employee] wasn’t Black or brown…they are terrorizing anyone. Everyone in Chicago.”

WGN-TV is still in the process of searching for and obtaining video showing the moment leading up to the employee’s detainment. WGN-TV also learned that the Border Patrol released the employee from federal custody as of 3 p.m. Friday.