chicago — A judge on Tuesday ordered a senior U.S. Border Patrol official to meet with her every evening to discuss the government’s anti-immigration crackdown in the Chicago area, an unusual move after weeks of street confrontations, tear gas and complaints of excessive force.
She replied: “Yes, ma’am.” Greg Bovinowho became the face of the Trump administration’s immigration campaigns in major American cities.
Bovino received a stern reprimand from U.S. District Judge Sarah Ellis as soon as he settled into the witness chair in his green uniform.
Ellis quickly expressed concerns about the videos and other photos from the illegal immigration campaign that had been produced More than 1,800 arrests Since September. The hearing is the latest in a lawsuit filed by media outlets and protesters who say agents used too much force. Including tear gasduring the demonstrations.
“My role is not to tell you that you can or cannot properly enforce the laws passed by Congress. … My role is simply to see that in enforcing those laws, agents act in a manner consistent with the Constitution,” the judge said.
Bovino is the head of the Border Patrol’s sector in El Centro, California, one of nine sectors on the Mexican border.
The judge wants to meet with her in person every day at 6pm to “hear how the day went.”
“I think now that we know where we are and that he understands what to expect, I don’t know that we’re going to see a major tear gas outbreak next week,” Ellis said.
Ellis focused on reports that Border Patrol agents disrupted a children’s Halloween parade with tear gas on the city’s northwest side over the weekend. Neighbors gathered in the street when someone was arrested.
“These kids were tear gassed on their way to celebrate Halloween in the parking lot of their local school,” Ellis said. “I can only imagine how terrified they were feeling. These children, as you can imagine, had their sense of security shattered on Saturday. It will take a long time for that sense of security to return, if it ever happens at all.”
Ellis Bovino ordered the release of all use of force reports since September 2 from agents involved in Operation Midway Blitz. She claimed it for the first time by the end of Tuesday, but Bovino said that would be “physically impossible” due to the “sheer volume.”
Government lawyers have repeatedly defended the actions of agents, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees, telling the judge that the videos and other images were biased.
In addition to his court appearance, Bovino must still attend a deposition and conduct a private interview with lawyers on both sides.
The judge has already ordered agents to wear badges, and banned them from using some riot control techniques against peaceful protesters and journalists. She later requested body cameras after the use of tear gas raised concerns that agents would not follow her initial order.
Ellis set a deadline of Friday for Bovino to get the camera and complete the training.
Lawyers representing a coalition of media and protesters claim he violated a judge’s order to use force in Little Village, a Mexican neighborhood in Chicago, and presented a photo of him allegedly “unjustifiably tear gassing a crowd of people.”
Over the weekend, masked agents and unmarked SUVs were seen on Chicago’s wealthier, predominantly white North Side, where video showed chemicals spread across a street. Agents have been recorded using tear gas several times over the past few weeks.
Bovino also led an immigration operation in Los Angeles in recent months, resulting in thousands of arrests. Agents smashed car windows, blew down the door of a house and patrolled MacArthur Park on horseback.