A Chicago pastor who was shot in the head with pepper spray by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a protest last month has spoken out, saying he was “praying audibly to them” when they opened fire.
Reverend David Black, the lead pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, told local news station WGN-TV that the agents shot him twice in the head and another five times in the body during the incident.
According to Rev. Black, the manufacturer of the pepper balls he was struck with has warned that they can be deadly when fired at the head, neck, spine, or other sensitive areas.
“I wonder about the training of these ICE agents, and I wonder about their intentions,” he said.
Black has joined members of the press, election officials, and other religious leaders in filing a lawsuit through the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), following what the organisation describes as “lethal and brutal suppression of First Amendment rights.”
This comes as the Trump administration continues to deploy federal forces, including the National Guard and ICE agents, to cities across the United States in what it claims is an effort to “deter crime and enforce immigration laws.”
The ACLU, however, accuses ICE agents and other federal law enforcement officers of using violent force against people engaging in peaceful and constitutionally protected activities, as the Trump administration sends them into predominantly Democratic cities and states.
“Never in modern times has the federal government undermined bedrock constitutional protections on this scale, or usurped states’ police powers by directing federal agents to carry out an illegal mission against the people for the government’s own benefit,” the complaint states.
“I extended my arms, palms outstretched towards the ICE officers, in a traditional Christian posture of prayer and blessing,” Pastor Black told the ACLU. “Without any warning, and without any order or request that I and others disperse, I was suddenly fired upon by ICE officers.”
The attorneys are filing an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, asking the court for immediate injunctive relief against what they describe as the government’s violent suppression of free speech.