- The Latest
  Regular reporting on government secrecy, surveillance, and the rights of reporters and whistleblowers.
  - The Classifieds
  - News Releases
- Technology
  Working open source software products to protect journalists, newsrooms, and their sources.
  - SecureDrop
  - Dangerzone
- U.S. Press Freedom Tracker
  A database of press freedom incidents in the United States.
  - Data Visualizations
  - Explore the Database
- Digital Security Education
  Digital security trainings and resources for journalists.
  - Request a Training
  - Guides & Resources
- About Us
  Protecting and defending press freedom when we need it the most.
- Our Team
  - Staff & Contributors
  - Board of Directors
- Transparency
  - Reports & Financials
  - Announcements
- Get in Touch
  - Jobs & Internships
  - Contact Us
Donate

ICE

DOJ lawyer falsely cited terrorism to justify press freedom violations

Feb. 26, 2026 / Freedom of the Press Foundation

A protest (or, as government lawyers would call it, a violent terrorist riot) outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois, last year.

Chicago Sun-Times/Ashlee Rezin via AP

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Chicago, Feb. 26, 2026 — Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) filed an attorney disciplinary complaint today against Department of Justice lawyer Sean Skedzielewski. The complaint focuses on Skedzielewski’s remarks to a federal judge in Chicago that immigration agents’ violations of protesters and journalists’ rights were justified by “a riot with violent terrorist organizations attempting to dox ICE and their famil[ies].” But no such terrorist riot ever occurred.

The following can be attributed to Seth Stern, chief of advocacy at FPF:

“It does not take a scholar of legal ethics to conclude that government lawyers should not be allowed to make up a violent and organized terrorist invasion of a major American city. That we have a presidential administration that lies constantly to justify its lack of transparency and crackdowns on First Amendment freedoms does not license government attorneys to repeat the same nonsense in courts of law. The Attorney Grievance Committee should use this opportunity to send a clear message that government lawyers are expected to uphold the Constitution, not undermine it with fabricated hysteria.”

The complaint, which was filed with the Attorney Grievance Committee in New York, where Skedzielewski is licensed to practice law, is available here.

Please contact us if you would like further comment.