When we learned that Customs and Border Protection agents were coming to North Carolina, we knew our colleagues in Chicago would have some wisdom to share. Communities there have been dealing with aggressive and hostile tactics for months, even after a lawsuit and court order restricting the use of force.
At the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ, most of the journalists doing on-the-ground coverage have been attacked with chemical irritants, rubber bullets and other projectiles even when it was clear they were reporters or photographers.
They’ve also spent countless hours responding to false and misleading statements and the Hollywood-style videos and graphics (some using CST/WBEZ photographs) put out by the Trump administration and the Department of Homeland Security.
We spoke with Nader Issa, a Chicago Sun-Times journalist to learn more and round up some of the team's safety and resource tips below. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
After Border Control and other federal agents came to Chicago, what was your approach to responding to their official statements?
Our approach was to take a look at what they said, take a look at the evidence that we saw from our reporters on the ground, the evidence that we saw from witnesses, the evidence that we saw from court documents, depending on what the case was—just any sources that could either corroborate what DHS was saying, or that told us a different story.
After CPB agents came to Charlotte, DHS released a statement that used phrases like “worst of the worst” and provided numbers and some names and photographs of the people they arrested. How did you decide what to include from these releases?
If we can’t confirm something from a press release, it's really important that we say “XYZ from their statement could not be independently verified,” if that's the case. And that's what we did.
Back in September, two ICE officers shot and killed a man in a suburb here in Chicago and we put a line in the story that said we “have not independently verified ICE’s account.” If we're talking about numbers, you could publish their numbers and then say, we haven't been able to independently verify this.
In terms of “worst of the worst,” that is something you can fact check. If they're putting out names, you could look up their court record to understand whether they have any violent criminal convictions, which is something we did. You could also try to find neighbors or family members or people just to learn who these people are to fact check that claim.
It's tough, it is a dilemma, because this is what the government's saying, and you can't always fact check within an hour or two. If that’s the case, I do think it's important to say this is something we couldn't independently verify.
Were there any particular things that federal officials put out that raised red flags or things that you were especially careful to scrutinize?
There is a lot of hyperbolic language that they put out. “Worst of the worst” is one example. They keep repeating this line: we're arresting murderers and rapists. They said attacks against ICE officers have increased by 1,000%. They don't publish data on that and we don't know what types of instances are classified as attacks.
Here in Chicago, they've been calling protesters violent, radical extremists or rioters, or in some cases, terrorists. All of that hyperbolic language that we haven't really heard before, you have to take a step back and try to think about: is this something that we actually saw on the ground? Is this something that we actually have heard from witnesses? Is this something that we have seen in our city before they came?
Were there specific claims from federal officials that the team was able to disprove or find evidence or information that countered what they said?
Yes. The shooting in a suburb called Franklin Park. Two ICE officers were following this guy in his car. The narrative that DHS put out is that he hit the two officers with his car and dragged one of the officers who sustained serious injuries and had to be hospitalized and during the course of being dragged, the officer shot and killed the man.
We FOIA'd for body camera footage from the responding local police. When they came up to the scene, you see the two federal officers near the man that was shot and the local officer asks the ICE officers if they’re injured and they said “nothing major.” So, obviously, nothing major deviates a lot from serious injuries in hospitals.
There was a big overnight raid on an apartment building in a neighborhood called South Shore. There were these Black Hawk choppers, and they zip-tied people, kids, U.S. Citizens for hours all under the claim that this was a hotbed for Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. And there was just no evidence that this Venezuelan gang had overrun the building, or that they had caused bad conditions in the building. Even in court cases, they are not accusing people of being gang members.
What strategies have reporters used to verify what really happened?
You have to cast a wide net. You have to be on the ground. In some cases, if there’s a big federal presence in a neighborhood or suburb and they're tear gassing people, they're violently arresting people, you have to be on the ground very quick and responsive to incidents, to see things for yourself.
If you don't see things for yourself, you have to be able to quickly gather eyewitness accounts, gather videos from eyewitnesses. There's also court records, looking back at people's backgrounds, monitoring for any new lawsuits, any new criminal charges or indictments.
Have your reporters gotten access to immigration court? Is that a place to learn more about who’s been detained?
Yes and no. The way it's worked here in Chicago is that a lot of people who were detained were put in a facility in suburban Broadview. From there, they're very, very strongly suggested to sign their deportation papers and if they don't, they're then transported to longer-term detention facilities in the six states surrounding us. That's all to say, it's not like this has all led to a ton of activity at immigration court. They're not getting arrested and then taken to immigration court. A lot of immigration court cases are cases that people already had, they're seeking asylum, a
judge is reviewing their case. ICE has gone to immigration court to pick people up.
What are your three biggest tips for reporters and newsrooms down here?
First and foremost always, is keep yourself safe. What we saw here was a very different situation than covering your average protest, where local police are sort of patrolling it, and even here in Chicago, where there have been times when police have gotten into it with protesters—this was just a completely different level. It felt like soldiers on the streets without care for hurting people. So that's number one, just understand that this is a little bit new and different and the safety aspect of how to cover what's going on.
Number two is the skepticism I talked about. Recognize what DHS is saying, and do all that you can through the different avenues that we talked about to fact check and get as accurate of a story as you can. And it's okay not to include parts of the DHS statement sometimes if it's too inflammatory and you can't fact-check it. It's also okay to be explicit in a story and say "we haven't verified this."
And the third thing is try to keep the focus as much as possible on the human impact of all of this. People's lives are really being torn apart. One day they might think they have legal status, the next day their status is revoked. In Chicago, this has affected people and families and communities. In my neighborhood, there’s a huge park and every Saturday, every Sunday, it would just be filled with people and kids and bouncy houses and people selling things in carts on the sidewalk, volleyball games and soccer games, all that. For the past two months, you can’t find a single person out there. Keep your eye on how this is affecting communities and people. That’s the most important thing. Don’t let the theatrics take over.
Additional safety & reporting tips from
Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ
Risk assessment and reporter readiness
Have a plan for what your organization is going to do if a reporter is arrested.
Have a plan to extract reporters if they are attacked or injured.
Prepare reporters for what they might encounter: use of force, arrests, being detained.
Have conversations with reporters about their comfort level and potential risks, including immigration status, potential to be targeted based on race/ethnicity, health concerns and mental readiness.
Use a buddy system. Pair reporters together and/or with photographers.
Have a check-in plan.
Debrief with journalists. Regularly let them know they can say “I’m out” and recover and/or do critical coverage from a distance/home/the office.
On-the-ground safety and communication protocols
Equipment:
Consider go kits containing gas masks, bump or ballistic helmets and vests; eye protection, Sudecon wipes & squeezable water bottle; phone battery chargers.
Caution: equipment and/or press vests could make reporters more visible and potentially a target. They can carry items in a backpack until needed for use.
Communication:
Sharing location with editors is helpful but drains batteries. Consider AirTags on shoes instead.
Journalists on the ground should be careful about how source information is shared on phones. Consider pseudonyms, use encrypted apps, don’t get on public WiFi, and delete any messages that come in with unrecognizable links.
Consider a dedicated Slack channel for real-time communication with reporters, who can also upload updates/visuals for editors to compile, verify. Invite newsroom staff to use the channel to drop in tips, even if coverage doesn’t fall squarely within their beats.
Thank you to the Chicago Sun-Times journalists who have answered our calls, texts and emails over the last six days and provided us with valuable information to help us here in NC. We appreciate you! 🫶
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