Pastor shot in the head by ICE agents sues Trump administration over First Amendment threats in Chicago

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

Wednesday 08 October 2025 19:26 BST


A Presbyterian minister in Chicago is suing Donald Trump’s administration after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were captured in viral video firing pepper balls at his head during protests against the president’s anti-immigration agenda.

The Rev. David Black joined a lawsuit with Chicago reporters and protesters accusing the administration of unconstitutional threats to their First Amendment rights and religious freedoms with “a pattern of extreme brutality” designed to “silence the press and civilians.”

Last month, Black — dressed in black and wearing a clerical collar while standing with demonstrators — was hit with chemical agents while praying in front of an ICE facility in Broadview, a Chicago suburb that has emerged as a flashpoint for protests against the administration as the president deploys National Guard troops to Illinois. “I invited them to repentance,” Black told Religion News Service. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

Black is not alone, according to the lawsuit. Agents “dressed in full combat gear” have “indiscriminately” tossed flash grenades and tear gas and fired guns loaded with chemical irritants and rubber bullets against demonstrators in the Chicago area, the complaint says.


Presbyterian minister David Black is hit in the head after ICE agents fired pepper balls at him

@mskellymhayes.bsky.social

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ice-chicago-lawsuit-minister-shot-first-amendment-b2841941.html

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Link to SUIT (PDF) - https://newsguild.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Broadview-Complaint-10.06.25.pdf

[GreenWave]

1. ICE should be charged with attempt to maim and injure...

[ProudMNDemocrat]

2. This is FASCISM in action, folks.

The US Constitution be damned!

We need to continue the FIGHT in peaceful ways the best way we can.

[lastlib]

11. G-ICE-Stapo has got to go!

(I'm trying out my protest sign for Oct. 18th)

F*ck ICE!! With cacti.

[Hassler]

3. Press Charges. ICEholes getting frog marched

Will get them to reconsider

[Lovie777]

4. It's ICE that are terrorists............................

[Gimpyknee]

5. Fuck these bastards.

[pfitz59]

6. Arrest ICE!

Multiple criminal violations.

[paleotn]

7. Some ICE trash need to be introduced to the Chicago Way

If what's left is found in a dirty ally somewhere on the south side, so be it.

I didn't not say this. I was never here.

[lastlib]

12. You were never here, and

I heard the torpedo hit the sub!

[Blue Owl]

8. I thought tRump was the master of optics

When children and senior citizens are being zip-tied, and clergy are being shot in the head, I think Dementia Donny needs a refresher course -- not a good look for the Republicans to be dishing out this kind of unhinged violence on American citizens....

[progressoid]

9. This is for his faithful followers. They love it.

I read some youtube comments after they stormed the apartment complex on the south side and brought out naked kids. They think it's great.

[iemanja]

14. Exactly.

[barbtries]

21. #MassSociopathy

you have to be some kind of sick to think that's okay.

[progressoid]

22. It's one of the reasons I hate going home.

I know too many people who used to be kind and now they are vindictive and cruel.

[orangecrush]

10. KICK

[Orrex]

13. Has the SCOTUS cleared Trump of any wrongdoing yet?

[Roxi]

15. GOOD

Nobody deserves to be shot in the head like that, especially when all he was doing was talking.

[Rhiannon12866]

16. SHOCKING video shows ICE shoot Chicago pastor in head with pepper ball - All In - MSNBC

Newly surfaced video shows federal agents shooting a pastor in the head with what appears to be a pepper-spray projectile while speaking outside an ICE detention facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview. Chris Hayes reacts. - Aired on 10/08/2025.

[liberalla]

19. Great addition to this thread... thanks so nuch for adding.

[riversedge]

24. Thanks. I wish everyone would watch--both Democrats and Repugs and others

[Kid Berwyn]

17. And they laughed.

It's up to We the People to get the last laugh.

[TommieMommy]

18. What the hell 😱 this crap should never happen

[TexasBushwhacker]

20. As he should. "Non-lethal rounds" are NOT supposed to be aimed at people

They are supposed to be aimed at the ground because they can cause physical harm even if they aren't a traditional bullet. People have been blinded, gotten skull fractures, etc from "rubber bullets" and smoke rounds.

This woman was a peaceful protester IN DENVER after the George Floyd murder. She was hit in the face with a "sponge tipped" round.

?resize=768,809

https://kffhealthnews.org/news/rubber-bullets-protesters-police-often-violate-own-policies-crowd-control-less-lethal-weapons/

[riversedge]

23. I saw the video and was horrified as ICE was shooting from a rooftop. And as far as I could

determine, the protestors were not near any other police nor the fence. It was horrible to watch.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

25. MaddowBlog-Team Trump's clashes with the faith community go from bad to worse

The political world is overdue for a conversation about the severity of the conflicts between the Republican administration and the faith community.

We’re overdue for a public conversation about the Trump administration's dramatic conflicts with the faith community.

Pam Bondi recently claimed that Biden “abused and targeted Christians,” but that more accurately describes the status quo, not the recent past. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-10-08T19:57:15.812Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/team-trumps-clashes-faith-community-go-bad-worse-rcna236412

It served as a timely reminder that too often in GOP circles, religion is treated as something that must be celebrated, protected and respected — just so long as the faith community is telling the party what it wants to hear.....

More recently, however, the underlying issue took a dramatic turn. The Religion News Service reported this week on developments in Chicago, where a variety of faith leaders are opposed to the administration’s immigration agenda. The report specifically highlighted what transpired when the Rev. David Black, wearing a clerical collar, stood in front of an ICE facility, with empty arms raised, and invited armed agents to repent. From the RNS report:

When Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black added.

The same Religion News Service report noted that the Rev. Hannah Kardon, a United Methodist pastor who leads United Church of Rogers Park in Chicago, has also protested at the local ICE facility, and she too said she has been shot multiple times with pepper bullets, “including while she was praying with her eyes closed and hands lifted, wearing a clerical collar.”.....

Six months later, as Christian leaders are actually abused by Trump administration officials, the political world is overdue for a conversation about the severity and frequency of the clashes between Team Trump and the faith community.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

26. This will be a fun lawsuit to follow