The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is being accused of wrongly arresting and detaining protesters at the Broadview ICE facility as part of a government promotional video on the day Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino were there with cameras. 

Kyle Frankovich and Juan Munoz were protesting outside the facility on Oct. 3, when each was taken into custody. 

"An agent grabbed me, threw me down," said Kyle Frankovich. "I was then zip-tied and detained." 

Juan Munoz, an Oak Park Village Trustee, said he also was put in those plastic handcuffs after being "pulled to the ground, and ordered arrested" without explanation.

They were among about a dozen protesters detained and lined up along a guardrail outside the facility. 

"Made to stand there for 40 minutes, not knowing what was happening. I was not told that I was accused of anything," said Munoz. "It felt very much like we were just being used for this political theater." 

"Kristi Noem was able to walk past us, surrounded by photographers, videographers, essentially just getting us in the background as she walked by," said Frankovich. 

Now, both men accuse federal law enforcement of wrongly detaining them and using them as props for Noem's visit. 

"It became very obvious that we were being held because of more political reasons," said Munoz.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security later sent out social media posts, including a promotional video with Frankovich handcuffed. Another was a recruitment post and said, "We will not allow violent activist to lay hands on our law enforcement." Frankovich was never charged with a crime. Neither was Munoz.

After spending time along the guardrail, Munoz and Frankovich were then taken inside the Broadview facility and locked up in a cell together.

"It's absolutely filthy. It's disgusting. It smells awful," said Frankovich.

"The cell itself was filthy," said Munoz. "At the corner was a shared toilet with a waste bin that had soiled toilet paper."

The men, who met for the first time in Broadview, say they were kept inside the facility for hours and were not told why they were being held.

"They brought us out of the cell at the end of the day, said, 'We're getting ready to let you go,'" said Frankovich. "They didn't give us any documentation, no paperwork, no charges."

Frankovich says he was familiar with other aggressive acts by agents in Broadview. A week earlier, his fiancée, Leigh Kunkle, recorded video of federal officers using their weapons on protesters.

"As I'm watching these agents approach and continue to shoot into the crowd, I heard someone yell something like, 'On your right, they're ambushing you,'" said Kunkle.

She was shot in the face with pepper balls.

"They were shooting them directly at people's faces, torsos," said Kunkel. "I looked down, and my hand is just full of blood."

Kunkel and Frankovich are planning to take legal action to hold the federal government accountable. Their attorney, Tony Romanucci, is filing a federal claim for them and other people wrongfully detained during "Operation Midway Blitz."

"It's very challenging to sue the federal government, and I think that's why you see them taking such an aggressive stance against people," said Romanucci. "There may be instances where you can even claim kidnapping charges here, with an American citizen. Someone who's removed from a location against their will, not knowing where they're going, that's a kidnapping."

"I see the rights being violated of people in my community, in our surrounding communities, without due process, without warning," said Munoz. "Federal agents are assaulting U.S. citizens, non-citizens, community members for the purpose of terrorizing them."

After eight hours inside the facility, the men say they were put in a van with other detainees, dropped off at a gas station in another town, and told they were free to go.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to CBS News Chicago's questions about these cases before this story aired Thursday night.