Real photo shows federal immigration agents spraying Chicago pastor with 'pepper pellets'

The image circulated as alleged evidence of a scene outside an ICE processing facility in a Chicago suburb.

In late September 2025, as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents implemented President Donald Trump's effort targeting immigrants living illegally in the Chicago area, protesters gathered outside an ICE processing facility in the area. Soon after, a photograph claiming to show ICE agents hitting a pastor with pepper spray or pellets spread across the internet.

Snopes received questions from readers asking whether the photo was real. According to posts on X and Facebook, the image supposedly showed ICE agents clashing with the Rev. David Black, a pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, outside an ICE processing facility in Broadview, a suburb of Chicago.

The photograph is authentic and accurately captioned. It is not the product of artificial-intelligence software, nor is it a digitally edited creation. As such, we rate this claim true.

Photojournalist Ashlee Rezin of the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper shot the photo. The newspaper published the photo on Sept. 20, 2025, report with the caption: "The Rev. David Black of First Presbyterian Church recoils as a U.S. Customs and Border agents deploy tear gas and pepper balls Friday at the Broadview ICE facility outside Chicago."

(Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times)

Black spoke to news outlets and civil-rights advocates about his experience at the protest on Sept. 19, 2025. Black told The Guardian newspaper that ICE agents hit him in the head, face, torso, arms and legs with around seven or eight "pepper exploding pellets" while he was in a position of prayer.

He added: "I'm not a political ideologue, but I am very deeply rooted in my faith, in the ways that it calls me to show up in this moment as someone who can proclaim the good news and call these ICE agents into their right mind."

We reached out to Black to independently confirm his account of the photographed moment. Black confirmed he was the individual in the photograph and said he was hit with both pepper spray and "near-lethal pepper balls on my head, face, torso, arms, and legs at least seven times in total."

Black also confirmed that he is the individual being treated for injuries in this photograph on Getty Images.

Rezin shared additional photographs she took for the Chicago Sun-Times showing ICE agents, Black and other protesters.

(Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times)

Video footage from local media outlets, verified by Storyful, showed the pastor getting hit in the head with what appeared to be a pellet at a different moment during the protest.

The pastor attended a different protest at another location the following day, according to the Sun-Times' reporting.

In another photograph, the same pastor blows a shofar horn. Taken by photojournalist Candace Dane Chambers for the Sun-Times, the caption for that photo stated: "The Rev. David Black, a Presbyterian minister, blows a shofar outside the Great Lakes Naval Station near North Chicago on Saturday. He and other protesters demanded ICE and federal military forces leave Illinois. On Friday, Black was pepper-sprayed in a confrontation with law enforcement at the Broadview ICE Detention Center."

In October 2025, Black joined a lawsuit suing the Trump administration over ICE agents' alleged actions at the Chicago-area protests, accusing the government of violating protesters' First Amendment rights. Black told the American Civil Liberties Union:

I extended my arms, palms outstretched toward the ICE officers, in a traditional Christian posture of prayer and blessing. Without any warning, and without any order or request that I and others disperse, I was suddenly fired upon by ICE officers. In rapid fire, I was hit seven times on my arms, face and torso with exploding pellets that contained some kind of chemical agent. It was clear to me that the officers were aiming for my head, which they struck twice.

Federal agents arrested around 10 protesters outside the Broadview facility on Sept. 19, and all were released by the next day. It was unclear whether any of them faced criminal charges. Brad Thomson, a spokesperson for the National Lawyers Guild, reportedly did not confirm whether any of them had been charged. In our inquiry to Black, we asked whether he was among the protesters who were arrested.

The protesters were rallying against the Trump administration's "Operation Midway Blitz" — an ICE operation targeting Chicago-area immigrants in the country illegally that launched on Sept. 8, 2025. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the operation took place "in honor of Katie Abraham." Abraham was a college student killed in a drunk-driving crash allegedly caused by a Guatemalan man who did not have legal status in the country.

By mid-September, immigration officials said they had arrested more than 500 people as part of the operation.

Immigration rights activists accused ICE agents of using excessive force to make the arrests, and reports documented uncertainty and dread among immigrant communities fearful of aggressive ICE raids.

Snopes previously investigated claims that federal agents used helicopters in a Chicago raid on alleged Venezuelan gang members as part of "Operation Midway Blitz."

Nur Nasreen Ibrahim is a reporter with experience working in television, international news coverage, fact checking, and creative writing.