Judge orders leader of Trump’s Chicago immigration crackdown to appear in court daily

By Diana Novak Jones, Renee Hickman and Ted Hesson

CHICAGO (Reuters) -A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Border Patrol official who leads U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Chicago to appear in court daily for the next week and to wear a body camera after chastising him over his agency’s frequent use of force and tear gas during enforcement actions in the city.

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, who this month barred federal agents from using certain crowd-control tactics, told Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino that videos suggested his agency was overstepping legal bounds during enforcement operations.

“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,” Ellis said.

Ellis ordered Bovino to come to court each weekday at 6 p.m. before a November 5 hearing related to a legal challenge filed by protesters and others over the border agency’s tactics.

The judge also required the Trump administration by Friday to supply reports about the use of force and body-camera footage in Chicago since it launched its immigration enforcement operation in the third-largest U.S. city on September 2.

Ellis, who read aloud her earlier order at the start of the hearing, referenced an incident on Saturday in the residential neighborhood of Old Irving Park where 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,” Ellis said. “They just don’t. And you can’t use riot-control weapons against them.”

When Ellis pressed Bovino about an earlier order requiring agents to wear body-worn cameras when available, he said that “99%” of border agency personnel in Chicago had them but that he personally did not.

“I’ve not received a body-worn camera or the training,” Bovino said.

Ellis, who this month mandated that all border agents in Chicago wear body cameras if available, ordered Bovino to get a camera and training on how to use it by Friday.

AGGRESSIVE IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT

The Republican president has made Chicago a focus of his aggressive immigration enforcement push during the past two months. Under Bovino’s leadership, federal agents have used tear gas in residential areas and forcibly subdued protesters while attempting to arrest suspected immigration violators, drawing criticism and legal scrutiny.

Ellis ordered Bovino’s appearance after protesters submitted a video they said showed him violating the judge’s court order directing federal agents to give multiple warnings before using tear gas and other anti-riot weapons.

In the video, Bovino appeared to toss a canister of gas at protesters who had gathered as federal agents conducted arrests last Thursday in a Chicago neighborhood known for being home to many Mexican immigrants.

In a statement on Friday, U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the agents were surrounded by a large group while conducting an enforcement operation. McLaughlin said some people in the crowd shot fireworks and threw rocks, hitting Bovino in the head, and that agents gave warnings before deploying chemicals.

Trump’s ongoing “Operation Midway Blitz” deportation drive in Chicago has spurred arrests across the city and sparked widespread protests. In response, Trump attempted to send hundreds of National Guard troops to Illinois to quell what his administration called unprecedented violence against federal law enforcement, but the move has been halted for now by another court.

Tuesday’s hearing stems from a lawsuit filed by protesters, journalists and clergy in Chicago against Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other federal officials, alleging they were deliberately targeted and brutalized during demonstrations.

The judge has repeatedly expressed concerns that federal agents are violating her October 9 ruling requiring them to wear visible identification and limiting their use of anti-riot weapons such as pepper balls and tear gas. The judge later updated her order to require federal officers with body cameras to turn them on while conducting immigration enforcement activity and during interactions with the public.

(Reporting by Diana Novak Jones and Renee Hickman in Chicago and Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Will Dunham and Lisa Shumaker)