CHICAGO (Reuters) -A federal judge in Chicago on Monday questioned a U.S. immigration official about a series of incidents in which federal agents have responded aggressively to protesters or bystanders, in some cases using force, during President Donald Trump’s crackdown in the city.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis has repeatedly expressed concern that federal agents were violating her Oct. 9 order requiring them to wear visible identification and to issue warnings before deploying anti-riot weapons such as tear gas. On Friday, Ellis ordered federal officers who have body cameras to turn them on while conducting immigration enforcement activity and during interactions with the public.
During Monday’s hearing, Ellis asked Kyle Harvick, a deputy incident commander for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, about a number of hostile interactions between agents and city residents, including a reported confrontation over the weekend in which a law enforcement officer pointed a gun at a group of bystanders near an enforcement action outside an ice cream shop.
“You could understand how I might be concerned, right?” Ellis said. “That might be a use of force that is not commensurate with any threat that the agents are getting from people passing by.”
Harvick said he did not have details regarding that incident, but defended the actions of agents during other instances, including the use of tear gas to disperse protesters.
Clashes between protesters and federal agents, particularly officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have increased since Trump launched the immigration crackdown last month.
Trump also ordered the deployment of National Guard troops, including hundreds of Texas soldiers, to the Chicago area, part of the Republican president’s extraordinary campaign to send military personnel to Democratic-run cities under the stated goal of fighting crime. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the deployment, but the Justice Department has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to pause that ruling and allow the troops to proceed.
Trump has portrayed Chicago as riven by violent crime, a description at odds with statistics showing the city’s murder rate has been significantly declining for several years, although it is still higher than other large U.S. cities. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, has accused Trump of deliberately seeking to provoke unrest to justify further federal intervention.
Federal agents have employed combative tactics during the crackdown, including storming an apartment building with officers rappelling from military helicopters.
The hearing stems from a lawsuit filed earlier this month by protesters, journalists, and clergy against Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other federal officials, alleging plaintiffs were deliberately targeted and brutalized during demonstrations.
Ahead of Monday’s hearing, Ellis had flagged two specific incidents that troubled her.
On Oct. 12, federal agents fired tear gas at a group of residents who were observing a man’s arrest in a neighborhood on the city’s north side.
And last week, agents intentionally crashed into a car holding two men they were pursuing on the city’s southeast side, according to a DHS statement. When crowds of onlookers and protesters began to gather around the scene, Border Patrol agents lobbed smoke grenades, pepper balls and tear gas into the crowd.
Footage on social media showed a couple with an infant in a car seat running through the cloud of tear gas. Reuters has not verified the video.
In both cases, Harvick said, the agents gave warnings and acted appropriately under the circumstances.
(Reporting by Diana Novak Jones in Chicago; Additional reporting by Renee Hickman in Chicago; Writing by Joseph Ax in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Aurora Ellis)
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