Dana Briggs

NION-004 · Charged with a federal felony at a protest, dismissed with prejudice · Broadview, IL · 2025-09-27

Case ID: NION-004
Age: 70
Legal status: US Citizen
Agency: CBP
Location: Broadview, IL
Incident date: 2025-09-27
Abuse type: Excessive Force; Unnecessary Arrest
Verification tier: T1 Third-party evidence of the incident, or court order

Summary

On September 27, 2025, Dana Briggs, a 70-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran, was pushed to the ground by a Border Patrol agent while protesting outside the immigration detention facility in Broadview, Illinois. He was arrested, held through the weekend, and charged with a federal felony. The charge was reduced to a misdemeanor and then dismissed. On November 20, 2025, a federal magistrate judge dismissed it with prejudice and published an opinion finding that the government had swung and missed, multiple times.

What happened

INCIDENT DETAILS

On the evening of Saturday, September 27, 2025, Dana Briggs was among protesters standing in the street outside the Department of Homeland Security detention facility in Broadview, Illinois. Border Patrol agents instructed the crowd to leave the street, and Briggs stayed where he was and said, "Why?"

An agent then made physical contact with him and he fell backwards onto the pavement. As agents moved in to arrest him he tried to hand his phone to another protester, a second agent reached out to stop him, and in doing so his right arm made contact with her left arm. He was arrested at the scene.

CHARGES AND LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Briggs was charged on September 29, 2025 by criminal complaint with a felony violation of 18 U.S.C. 111(a)(1), assault on a federal officer. The affidavit supporting that complaint states:

> "Various USBP agents were equipped with BWCs at the time of BRIGGS' arrest, although not all of the agents, including Victim A, had their BWC operating at the time of the incident. Affiant has procured and reviewed the BWC of the USBP agent who physically interacted with BRIGGS prior to his arrest. Due to the position of BRIGGS' body relative to that agent at the time of BRIGGS' arrest, that BWC does not depict BRIGGS swinging his arm in the direction of Victim A."

The affidavit identifies its remaining evidence as video recorded by third parties and posted to YouTube, together with an account given by the agent who reported being struck.

On October 7 the government filed an Information reducing the charge to a misdemeanor under the same statute, and on the same day a federal grand jury declined to indict two other people arrested at Broadview on September 27.

Briggs pleaded not guilty on October 10 and a jury trial was set for December 8, 2025. On November 19 the defense filed a witness list naming Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino, and the following day the government moved to dismiss under Rule 48(a). The court granted the motion and dismissed the charge with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again.

The court issued a written opinion the same day, which states: "Today the Court stops short of concluding that the government struck any foul blows. But in charging Briggs, it sought to strike hard blows. It swung and missed – multiple times."

Five people were charged over the events at Broadview on September 27, 2025. All five prosecutions ended in dismissal or in a grand jury refusal to indict, and no charge arising from that evening remains against anyone.

AGENCY STATEMENTS

U.S. Attorney's Office, September 29, 2025

> "DANA BRIGGS, 70, of Rockford, Ill., is charged with felony assault of a federal officer. Briggs allegedly made physical contact with an agent's arm while the agent attempted to extend the safety perimeter around the facility."

The United States Attorney said his office "will take swift action when law enforcement personnel are criminally assaulted or individuals cross the line from peaceful protests to criminal mischief, assaults on federal officers, obstruction of justice, or the destruction of federal property."

Department of Homeland Security, October 3, 2025

> "Dana Briggs struck a female Border Patrol officer, leading to his arrest for assault. As well, he was verbally abusive towards agents."

The second sentence appears in no charging document.

On dismissal, November 20, 2025

The government's motion gave no reasons. Asked by the court, it stated that "after a careful review of the matter since early November 2025, the government concluded that dismissal is a fair result."

Requests for comment

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to inquiries after the dismissal.

Withdrawals and corrections

None. The Justice Department press release announcing the charge remains online and states that the cases were dismissed without prejudice. The dismissal in this case was with prejudice.

BEST OFFICER JUSTIFICATION

Agents had instructed protesters to clear the street so that the roadway could be used, and Briggs did not comply. He has never disputed that he stayed where he was. There was physical contact with an agent, which he also does not dispute, describing it as swatting a hand away. The agent reported pain in her wrist and later identified her own arm on the video. The misdemeanor charge did not require an assault or any intent to injure; it required only forcible interference with an officer carrying out a duty. Officers managing a perimeter at a protest make immediate decisions, and prosecutors reviewing the arrest the same weekend saw a man who had refused a lawful order and then made contact with an officer. When the office finished its review, it moved to dismiss, and the judge said that dismissing was the responsible thing to do.

THE OUTCOME

Briggs was arrested on the evening of Saturday, September 27, 2025 and held that night, through Sunday, and until the early afternoon of Monday, September 29, when he was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond with his travel restricted to the Northern District of Illinois subject to permission from Pretrial Services. He remained under federal charge for the next seven and a half weeks, until November 20, 2025.

Briggs said he was taken to Loyola University Medical Center on the night of the arrest and handcuffed to the hospital bed, and that he sustained cuts and bruises to both arms and wrists. Photographs of the injuries were taken on October 3, 2025 by an investigator from the Federal Defender Program, and hospital records were listed as defense exhibits. The government moved to exclude both as irrelevant.

In his lawsuit, Briggs said he has a heart condition, that his medication was left at home, and that he spent the weekend in custody without it. He also said a DNA sample was taken from him by mouth swab at about 1:00 am on September 28 at a Department of Homeland Security facility in Chicago, and that he was not told he could refuse.

The charge cannot be refiled. Briggs said his DNA profile remains in the federal database and his sample remains in an FBI laboratory. On May 6, 2026, Briggs and three other protesters arrested outside the same facility sued the federal government, asking a court to order their DNA samples destroyed and their profiles removed from federal databases. The case is pending and seeks no damages.

Briggs has brought no claim for money, and no excessive force or Federal Tort Claims Act action. No agent involved has been publicly identified, disciplined, or referred for investigation in any record located.

> "I stood up for something I believe in and will continue to do so, until my last breath."