ICE Protesters Sue Benny Johnson for Defamation

Kyle Frankovich, a Harvard data scientist, and Maureen Foody, a contract court reporter, sued Benny Johnson for defamation on October 2, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The case arises from an October 3, 2025 protest outside the Broadview ICE Processing Center near Chicago during Operation Midway Blitz. Johnson, embedded with then-Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino and DHS officials, filmed the plaintiffs lined up with hands zip-tied behind their backs and said they had assaulted officers. He posted the footage across X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Rumble, labeling protesters left-wing terrorists. Both were detained for hours and released without charges. DHS later used an image of Frankovich in zip ties in recruitment materials captioned FAFO. WHAT'S CONTESTED: Johnson said these individuals assaulted ICE officers and called them left-wing terrorists and Democrat domestic terrorists arrested for violent assault on federal law enforcement. Plaintiffs' attorneys say Ms. Foody and Mr. Frankovich stood peacefully in the area demarcated by authorities for First Amendment activity, sang songs, participated in prayers, held signs, and recorded official activity, were unjustly seized, injured, and detained for hours, and that all of this was false, which Mr. Johnson knew. Frankovich said the detention was traumatizing and objected to being used in propaganda to recruit ICE agents, adding, you shouldn't get to lie about me. The plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages.