Judge intensifies oversight of agents in Trump’s Chicago immigration crackdown
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Greg Bovino, a roving Border Patrol operations commander, leaving court in Chicago on Oct 28.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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CHICAGO - A US judge on Oct 28 intensified her monitoring of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Chicago, requiring a top official to appear daily in court and ordering his agency to detail the use of force by its agents including firing tear gas at protesters and bystanders and to hand over body-camera video.
US District Judge Sara Ellis during a hearing chastised Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino over his agency’s actions in the third-largest US city and told him to get a body camera to wear
Judge Ellis had summoned him to appear at the hearing after he was seen on video last week tossing a tear gas canister at protesters during an enforcement action in a neighbourhood with many immigrants from Mexico.
The judge is presiding over a lawsuit challenging the legality of the tactics used by officials carrying out Mr Trump’s Chicago crackdown called “Operation Midway Blitz”.
Aggressive immigration enforcement
The Republican president has made Chicago a focus of his aggressive immigration enforcement during the past two months.
Under Mr Bovino’s leadership, federal agents have used tear gas in residential areas and forcibly subdued protesters while attempting to arrest people suspected of being in the country illegally, drawing criticism and legal scrutiny.
The plaintiffs in the case provided Judge Ellis with video and testimony that they said showed that federal agents were violating the judge’s Oct 9 order setting limits on their use of force.
“I am getting video that the plaintiffs file, I’m getting videos that citizens send in. And at least in the videos that I see, knowing that I am not there, it is difficult for me to see that the force being used is necessary to stop an immediate and serious threat of physical harm,” Judge Ellis told the hearing.
The judge’s order required the agents to wear visible identification and restricted their use of anti-riot weapons such as pepper balls and tear gas.
The judge subsequently required federal officers with body cameras to turn them on while conducting immigration enforcement and during interactions with the public.
Judge Ellis on Oct 28 ordered Mr Bovino, who also played a lead role in Mr Trump’s immigration crackdown in Los Angeles over the summer, to come to court each weekday at 6pm before a Nov 5 hearing to discuss the day’s immigration enforcement operations.
The judge also told Trump’s administration by Oct 31 to hand over its reports on the use of force against protesters and bystanders in Chicago and corresponding body camera video dating to the beginning of the operation on Sept 2, and to provide this material going forward for any future instances.
Protesters, journalists and clergy sued Mr Trump and top administration officials, accusing them of violating constitutional free speech rights
The judge denied the US Justice Department’s request to pause her order requiring Mr Bovino’s daily appearances. The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Border patrol tactics
During the hearing, Judge Ellis mentioned an incident on Oct 25 in the Old Irving Park residential neighbourhood in which agents tackled residents and fired tear gas without warning, according to court declarations by two witnesses.
One of the witnesses said he was preparing to take his children to a Halloween parade before agents arrived and deployed tear gas.
“Kids dressed in Halloween costumes, walking to a parade, do not pose an immediate threat for the safety of a law enforcement officer,” Judge Ellis said. “They just don’t. And you can’t use riot-control weapons against them.”
Judge Ellis urged Mr Bovino to consider the lives of local children who have a right to feel safe in their neighbourhoods.
“These kids, you can imagine their sense of safety was shattered on Saturday,” Judge Ellis said. “It’s going to take a long time for that to come back, if ever.”
The judge, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama, said that protesters calling for federal agents to leave Chicago does not warrant the use of tear gas.
Mr Bovino said he was unable to speak about certain incidents without documentation of all the facts but asserted that decisions on using force were “dependent on the situation”.
When Judge Ellis pressed Mr Bovino about the judge’s order requiring agents to wear body cameras when available, he said that “99 per cent” of Border Patrol personnel in Chicago had them but that he personally did not.
“I’ve not received a body-worn camera or the training,” Mr Bovino said.
Judge Ellis told Mr Bovino to get a camera and training on how to use it by Oct 31.
In response to protests against “Operation Midway Blitz”, Mr Trump has attempted to send hundreds of National Guard troops to Illinois to quell what his administration has called violence against federal law enforcement, but the move has been halted for now by another court. REUTERS
