{"id":469240,"date":"2025-12-24T17:34:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T17:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/469240\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T17:34:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T17:34:20","slug":"amid-ice-arrests-chicago-filmmaker-and-citizen-journalist-captures-a-city-under-siege","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/469240\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid ICE Arrests, Chicago Filmmaker And Citizen Journalist Captures A City Under Siege"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO \u2014 A citizen filmmaker and journalist is chronicling the ways ICE and Border Patrol activity infringe on people\u2019s Fourth Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

Last week, Go Fourth Media<\/a> released three documentary shorts on its YouTube channel as part of the project. The Chicago-based, not-for-profit grassroots media organization was established \u201cto protect constitutional rights through bold storytelling by experienced filmmakers,\u201d according to its channel description.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

Andrew Freer, a longtime Chicago resident and founder of Go Fourth Media, said he was inspired to begin his work when ICE started ramping up its immigration enforcement efforts in Chicago in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was obviously very disturbed. I heard about them going to day cares, libraries, the local children\u2019s museum,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have masked, armed men, a whole paramilitary group, going around in our streets right now with little oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the real turning point for Freer came when his neighbor, Scott Sakiyama, a U.S. citizen and attorney, was detained by ICE<\/a> in suburban Oak Park in front of his child\u2019s school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t sleep that night,\u201d Freer said. \u201cI felt like I couldn\u2019t be silent anymore.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

Freer, who has spent 18 years in the filmmaking industry working on commercial and documentary films, chose to leverage his experience to help educate the public on ICE\u2019s constitutional overreach. Go Fourth, so named because of the amendment Freer asserts ICE and Border Patrol are violating, focuses on personal stories of ordinary citizens being disrupted or detained by ICE and broader stories of ICE activity throughout the city, as Freer and his crew follow reported sightings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Freer said he felt that focusing on how the rights of everyday Americans are being violated and \u201chow people are being targeted based on the color of their skin\u201d would speak to common concerns most Americans have.<\/p>\n

For Freer, the most powerful witness stories are those from legal citizens and residents who have been detained and arrested or been shot at and pepper-sprayed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that hearing those emotions from [these subjects] and recreating those experiences for our audience will have a connection,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

In addition to stories like Sakiyama\u2019s, Go Fourth seeks to tell stories of activists protesting ICE efforts in Chicago. In the third video, called \u201cMy Day Following ICE in Chicago,\u201d released Saturday, viewers can see ICE detainment efforts and everyday citizens using their voice to stand up for their neighbors. Some blow whistles; others film ICE officers in their masks and military gear. Others shout at them from the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not what our country is about!\u201d an Evanston resident screams in the video.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what Chicagoans are doing to stand up to this,\u201d said Freer, who notes that the videos have already received comments from people arguing that these citizens are obstructing justice. \u201cThis is people doing things and protecting their communities as best they can.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a citizen journalist, Freer is aware of the danger his efforts pose to him and his family, even as his press pass gives him some cover to film ICE as they carry out their activities. The day Freer spoke to Block Club for this story, agents threatened him no fewer than three times, he said. But he keeps a safe distance from the actual activity and reads the room to determine how close he and his crew can or can\u2019t get to certain arrests or stops as they occur.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a free press right now,\u201d he said. \u201cThat could change in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Independent journalism like Go Fourth\u2019s is essential for fighting back against the governmental overreach by Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino and ICE, said Julian Jackson, a core team member of the immigrant rights organization Protect Rogers Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s really important to tell the story of what\u2019s going on out there, so I\u2019m grateful for his work in documenting the action,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cIf you watch Bovino\u2019s actions, he\u2019s all about preening in front of the cameras and telling a provably false narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson said work of journalists like Freer helps to combat that government-sanitized narrative by capturing real stories of detentions and abductions, as well as the work of real activists on the ground.<\/p>\n

\"\"Border agents at O\u2019Hare Airport on Dec. 17, 2025. Credit: Go Fourth Media<\/p>\n

Go Fourth is self-funded and relies on volunteer work from editors, cameramen, animators and composers, among others, who complete the time-intensive work of meticulously assembling docs in their own free time. In addition to fundraising to subsidize this work, the organization is always looking for more witness stories or people who have been detained by or who organize against ICE efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Freer has several more videos planned for the new year, pending sufficient post-production work and support. Concrete dates for these releases are still to be determined, although Freer said he hopes to put out at least two videos a month.<\/p>\n

Even amid such a polarized political climate, Freer said he hopes that the stories their videos tell will have an impact and change people\u2019s perception of the Trump administration\u2019s deportation efforts in Chicago and elsewhere. He\u2019s already heard stories from friends whose Republican family members were shaken by the content of the videos and asked to share them with others, he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"A sign prohibiting immigration enforcement on city property at O\u2019Hare Airport. Credit: Go Fourth Media<\/p>\n

\u201cI know not everybody will be changed, but I think [they] will start to see what\u2019s really happening,\u201d Freer said. \u201cThis is a nonpartisan issue, and whatever background you come from, you can find your own ways to stand up to our constitutional rights being violated.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can find more details, including ways to donate or otherwise contribute to Go Fourth\u2019s efforts, on the organization\u2019s website<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a really good way of telling the average, everyday American that [the administration\u2019s action] is an erosion of basic rights,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cAnd that it will come for them, too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014 A citizen filmmaker and journalist is chronicling the ways ICE and Border Patrol activity infringe on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":469241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[648,960,5386,1818,121074],"class_list":{"0":"post-469240","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-operation-midway-blitz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115775752456452182","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}