Protect Journalists Covering Protests

Reed Dunlea arrest courtesy Stephanie Keith

Photo courtesy of Stephanie Keith

Journalists have the right to cover protests and demonstrations.

Protests are one of the most dangerous places for journalists in America. Journalists are routinely prevented from gathering the news, illegally arrested, and attacked by law enforcement and demonstrators.

Journalists have a First Amendment right to cover public protests. Protecting and expanding that right ensures that the public can learn what’s happening at protests and how they are policed.

Tell your lawmakers to stand up for journalists victimized by ICE

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been assaulting journalists around the country, from reporters in Chicago who were shot with pepper balls to a reporter in New York who was slammed to the ground and needed to be hospitalized. Tell Congress to take a stand and demand answers.

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Edit this message so that it is unique to you: Dear Member of Congress, Federal immigration agents have engaged in a myriad of alarming abuses, but I’m writing about one particular kind — assaults of journalists. These attacks not only impact the immediate victims but all of us who rely on a free press for information about what our government is up to. In New York this week, ICE agents assaulted at least three journalists at an immigration court. None of them were doing anything but their jobs. One of them was hospitalized because he was unable to get up after being slammed to the ground. This followed months of reports of ICE agents intimidating and bullying journalists doing their jobs at the court, including by taking photographs of their press credentials. A journalist who reported on those earlier abuses, Dean Moses, was among those assaulted. Last month in Illinois — and particularly on Sept. 26 and 27 – ICE assaulted numerous journalists (exact numbers cannot be determined yet) covering protests outside its facility in Broadview, near Chicago. By all accounts, the protests were peaceful and the attacks were unprovoked. The journalists were shot with pepper balls, including in the face and at close range. Two of the reporters assaulted, Raven Geary and Steve Held (who was also baselessly arrested), were part of the reporting team that undermined ICE’s official account of the fatal shooting of Silverio Villegas González in Franklin Park, Illinois. The Broadview Police Department and Illinois State Police have announced plans to investigate a similar attack by federal officers on a CBS News reporter. All of this follows the repeated assaults of journalists at protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles earlier this summer, which led a federal court to issue injunctions against both federal and local authorities. This situation is unacceptable. Whether one is for or against the Trump administration’s immigration policies, ICE raids and protests against them are of the utmost public concern. Journalists need to be able to report the news without fear of being assaulted and injured. Please use your platform to investigate, speak out against, and otherwise rein in these appalling attacks on core constitutional rights.

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Thank you for encouraging Congress to speak out against ICE’s appalling attacks on journalists.

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Join me in telling lawmakers to take action to stop ICE’s attacks on journalists around the country. ICE raids and anti-ICE protests are some of the most important stories of these times. The press must be able to report freely.

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