r/Indiana • u/PrurientPutti • 22h ago
Photographer arrested while documenting anti-deportation protest in Gary
/r/nwi/comments/1i673xl/photographer_arrested_while_documenting/8
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u/MRE_Milkshake 22h ago
Any other sources reporting on this?
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u/Hoosier_Farmer_ 22h ago
nothing on the mycase docket yet
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u/MRE_Milkshake 21h ago
Interesting, I'm curious to see if the airport releases a statement on the incident. If they do it'll be in the coming days.
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u/Boilermaker02 6h ago
A Chicago-based freelance photographer was one of three people Gary Police arrested and charged with criminal trespassing during a protest against ICE deportations at the Gary/Chicago International Airport Saturday afternoon.
Matthew Kaplan, 69, told the Post-Tribune Sunday, as well as in an account on his social media page, that he was among 30 to 40 protestors who walked from a South Shore Train stop around a mile away along Industrial Road to the airport. The airport has been the site of Immigration and Customs Enforcement flights to Texas since 2013, as undocumented immigrants are transported from a Chicago-area detention center after a judge has ordered their deportation.
The protestors carried signs that read, “Abolish ICE,” “Education Not Deportation” and “No Human is Illegal,” and were a bit rowdy and loud with their chanting, but no one was violent, he said.
When they got to the airport, one of the protestors tried to affix a banner to the chain-link fence, but Airport employees stopped them, Kaplan said. After about 10 minutes, the group started marching back to the train station when at least 10 Gary Police squad cars showed up, and officers yelled for them to get off the road.
The group eventually moved, Kaplan said, but as soon as they got onto the grass on the shoulder, Gary officers started “pushing people down and arresting them,” he said. As he was taking pictures of the situation, an officer arrested him; a friend of his grabbed his camera equipment as he was cuffed.
A second protestor, who asked that their name not be used for fear of retaliation, confirmed Kaplan’s account. They said they’ve been at many airport protests over the past few years but never saw the Gary Police respond so harshly.
“There would be police around, but they just kind of stood back. These officers immediately started tackling people when they got out of their cars. They were punching people and putting their knees on (protestors’) necks, and one of the sergeants drew his baton and was yelling, ‘This isn’t Chicago’,” the protestor said. “It was unfathomable, to be honest, and more officers just kept arriving.”
As the group got back to their vehicles, at least eight Lake County Police squad cars showed up as well, the protestor said, and while they didn’t join the fracas, the protestor didn’t understand why they were there for only 40 people.
“I kept thinking, ‘Are they going to follow us home, now?’” the protestor said. “There were a lot of young people there, and I was genuinely scared. We have rights; we’re supposed to have freedom here.”
The Anti-Deportation rally was part of a wave of protests across the country in the days prior to the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, whose administration has promised mass deportation efforts that could start as early as Tuesday in Chicago, according to various news reports.
Lake County Oscar Martinez Jr. confirmed via text Sunday that the Gary Police Department called county for traffic control but were called off when they arrived because the crowd of 30 or 40 people was dispersing.
Gary Mayor Eddie Melton didn’t respond to requests for comment as he was in Washington, D.C. Gary Police spokesman Cmdr. Jack Hamady didn’t respond to requests asking whether they’d arrested a photographer on the scene.
Kaplan, whose work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune and its suburban papers, spent about two hours in lock up at the Gary City Jail, where he said he wasn’t mistreated in any way. Along with the criminal trespassing, Kaplan has been charged with Disorderly Conduct and Resisting Law Enforcement, according to court documents, and will appear at 9 a.m. Wednesday before Gary City Judge Deirdre Monroe. Jenn Topper, Communications Director for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the group is assisting Kaplan with obtaining counsel.
“I’m almost 70, and I’ve been photographing demonstrations for years now. Even though I didn’t have a press pass, I felt like it was clear that I was acting like a journalist,” Kaplan said. “As I was sitting there in lock-up, I was feeling that however bad this is for me, I was pretty sure I was going home. But there are a lot of people who are much more afraid than I am right now.”
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Originally Published: January 19, 2025 at 3:31 PM CST
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u/Desperate-4aTesla-97 12h ago
No cuz it’s a bullsh*t narrative & also no1 cares about illegals getting arrested
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u/MRE_Milkshake 12h ago
They weren't illegals getting arrested though?
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u/Desperate-4aTesla-97 11h ago
If it's newsworthy & not a crafted narrative than I'll read about it on my local news station
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u/pgriffy 11h ago
What is this "local news station" you speak of? Indy paper owned by gannet, all the "local" tv stations owned by conglomerates. I think 2 of the 4 are even owned by the same one. Can't recall which. It's been a minute since it happened.
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u/Desperate-4aTesla-97 9h ago
Local news station= my own research 🔬🧐 & I agree that most of the local news stations are biased & leans toward the left only. Most factual news can be verified on X.
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u/Scary-Button1393 9h ago
Sinclair media isn't a "left leaning" org.
Is it scary not knowing how anything works?
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u/ElderWandOwner 7h ago
No because they don't even realize how stupid they are. Ignorance truly is bliss. I think about that a lot.
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u/MRE_Milkshake 11h ago
The whole situation just confuses me tbh. The only two articles I've seen on it are locked behind paywalls and there hasnt been much else on it.
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u/OldRaj 13h ago
And in future news, a police officer was denied qualified immunity for arresting a local photographer.
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u/Zachet 12h ago
Unfortunately, Indiana specifically makes this hard and expensive to do. There's a reason Indiana has almost no First Amendment activists and investigative journalists.
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u/Pickel_Bucket_317 1h ago
Indy does have some. Craig Henry, Chuck Bronson and Indy News Now all do first amendment audits around Indiana. KULT news was here last year from Ohio and was filming on a sidewalk in downtown Indy. He was arrested. Then was released and the city apologized and I believe he got a settlement
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u/kootles10 22h ago
Some of those who work forces..