CHICAGO (Reuters) -A top U.S. Border Patrol official violated a court order limiting the use of tear gas during demonstrations against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago, a group of protesters, journalists and clergy members told a U.S. judge on Thursday.
The group said in a court filing that Gregory Bovino, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commander overseeing the federal enforcement effort in Chicago, deployed tear gas in violation of the judge’s order during a standoff in a neighborhood known for being home to many Mexican immigrants.
They attached photos and a link to a Facebook video that appears to show Bovino throwing tear gas at a group of protesters without giving the required warning.
In a statement on Friday, U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Bovino and other federal immigration agents were conducting an enforcement operation in the area when they were surrounded by a large group of people, some of whom shot fireworks or threw rocks at the agents, hitting Bovino in the head.
McLaughlin said warnings were given before Bovino and other agents deployed the chemicals.
ARRESTS AND PROTESTS
President Donald Trump’s ongoing “Operation Midway Blitz” deportation drive in Chicago has spurred arrests across the city and sparked widespread protests. In response, Trump sent hundreds of National Guard troops to Illinois to quell what his administration called unprecedented violence against federal law enforcement, a directive that was halted by another court.
Dozens of community members and protesters, a handful of them throwing rocks, were met with tear gas on Thursday in Little Village, one of Chicago’s biggest Latino neighborhoods.
The heated standoff lasted around an hour until Chicago police officers arrived on the scene. This is at least the fifth time that tear gas has been used in Chicago’s neighborhoods.
Chicago residents closely track federal agents’ movements through the city and will often attempt to intercept officers and warn undocumented immigrants of the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The protesters, journalists, and clergy sued Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other federal officials earlier this month, alleging they were deliberately targeted and brutalized during demonstrations.
On Thursday, the group said they were rushing to alert U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis to the violation because they are concerned that federal immigration officials are ignoring her court order.
Ellis has repeatedly expressed concern 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.
Last week, Ellis ordered federal officers who have body cameras to turn them on while conducting immigration enforcement activity and during interactions with the public.
Ellis has allowed the group’s attorneys to schedule depositions of Bovino and other top immigration officials in the case. She has directed the government to preserve any body-worn camera footage and said she will consider several incidents where protesters clashed with immigration agents — including Thursday’s — at a hearing in the case in early November.
Ellis held a lengthy hearing on Monday where she questioned officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about multiple clashes between protesters and federal immigration agents.
The officials, Kyle Harvick, a deputy incident commander for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Shawn Byers, deputy field office director for ICE, defended the agents’ actions and said that Ellis’ order had been widely disseminated.
(Reporting by Diana Novak Jones in Chicago, Additional reporting by Heather Schlitz and Jim Vondruska in Chicago, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Bill Berkrot and Franklin Paul)
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