A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order granting increased protections to Chicago media and protestors who say federal agents have used excessive force against them while covering and attending protests over immigration arrests. 

U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis issued the order Thursday, Oct. 9. Among other things, it forbids arresting or using force on media and protestors who pose no threat to federal agents, including those in suburban Broadview, where the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is basing its operations.

The restraining order only applies for two weeks from its approval but may be made permanent at a future hearing. 

One of the media organizations who filed the lawsuit was Block Club Chicago, a nonprofit news organization covering local news. One of their writers named in the lawsuit was Charles Thrush, who’s also a student at DePaul. While attending a Broadview protest, ICE agents shot Thrush with a pepper ball despite having his credentials clearly displayed.

The Chicago Headline Club, the city’s chapter for the Society of Professional Journalists, was also among media organizations who filed lawsuits to ask the court for the protections.

The group’s president, Jeff Arnold, said making the order permanent would set a needed precedent for other states and cities that may also become the target of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

“It’s important for us to continue to get these legal victories just because I think it’s showing that we are right and that we have these rights, and the courts are recognizing our right to do our job,” Arnold said.

This summer another judge in Los Angeles issued a similar temporary restraining order after journalists there also complained about excessive force at ICE protests.

The DePaulia reached out to ICE Media affairs for comment but did not receive a response.

Since the founding of the United States, journalists have utilized the First Amendment and its protections as they carry out their duty, not to the government, but to the public. However, some say actions at recent protests against ICE have violated those protections. Media members have been hit with rubber bullets, tear gas, flash grenades and other weapons.

“I hope that the intimidation from federal immigration authorities does not work against journalists,” said Chris Bury, senior journalist in residence at DePaul and a former ABC news correspondent. “We have a long and proud tradition of independent reporting in the face of all kinds of protests.”

Despite the ruling, a WGN staff member, Debbie Brockman, was pinned to the ground and detained in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on Friday, Oct. 10, just one day after the judge issued the restraining order. Brockman was later released.

Media members are concerned that this might mean federal agents will ignore the ruling.

“Are the federal agents and the officers going to comply?” Arnold asked, “They’re almost daring us to enforce that … and what are the consequences if they do break the order?”

For some protestors, the restraining order isn’t reassuring.

“I feel like they’ll disregard the ruling, and then they’ll come up with a reason why it was necessary,” said Levi Rolles, one of the protestors at Broadview ICE headquarters.

He thinks ICE agents won’t think about the order in the heat of the moment.

“There was no real rhyme or reason,” Rolles said of ICE reactions he’s witnessed. “Sometimes you get away with just walking up to the fence or something. Other times they’d shoot you (with rubber bullets). It seems like they were doing it for fun, more or less.”

News organizations in Chicago have expressed their own concerns about the safety of their journalists in the field, but they’ve kept covering the immigration arrests and protests.

“Chicago is a tough media town, and the Chicago media is not gonna be deterred just because the Trump administration is sending aggressive federal agents into our city,” Bury said.

On Thursday, Judge Sara Ellis ordered the field director for ICE into court to address concerns of agents violating her order. Ellis is concerned ICE agents have continued to use tear gas against media and wants agents to have their body cams on at all times going forward.

These injunctions filed are just some of the battles being fought to protect First Amendment rights in the United States.

On Monday, a large swath of publications rejected newly proposed rules by the Department of War, formerly known as the Department of Defense, that would restrict access to information for journalists. Under the new rules, information can only be reported if the department authorizes it.

“First Amendment reporting is a bedrock constitutional principle,” Bury said, “and we need to stand up to an administration that seems intent on imposing its will in often thuggish ways.”

Editors Note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Sara Ellis.