“How about by Friday you get [a body camera] for yourself?” U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said to U.S. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino during a hearing Tuesday in Ellis’ courtroom in Chicago.
“We can get that … and the training,” responded Bovino, who appeared in court in his uniform.
Body cameras were one of several concerns that Ellis raised after Bovino took the stand. Ellis is presiding over a lawsuit brought by media organizations over the treatment of protesters during the Trump administration’s federal deportation campaign. The judge had called Bovino to court last week after being deluged with complaints that federal agents have violated her orders over the use of tear gas and other riot control weapons across the city.
On the eve of Bovino’s scheduled appearance, lawyers had asked Ellis to completely ban federal agents from using tear gas until the judge rules on their request for a preliminary injunction. Attorney Steve Art wrote that the Trump administration is “plainly in contempt, and sanctions are warranted.”
“Something must be done,” he wrote.
In court Tuesday, Ellis pointed to the requirement that agents give two warnings ahead of tear gas: “This has been a consistent theme through all of the plaintiffs’ filings — that there was no warning given. They must tell people what they are going to do before they do it, so that people have the opportunity to comply.”
“I also know I’m not there,” Ellis said. “I’m not out in the street. I’m here. But I am getting videos. … It is difficult for me to see that the force being used is necessary to stop an immediate and serious threat of physical harm to a person.
“There was a woman in Little Village who was pulled to the ground and arrested. She had someone sitting on top of her with his knee in her back. And the video … did not appear to show that she was posing an immediate threat.”
Bovino has not yet responded to the judge’s statements about the use of tear gas.
Ellis began Tuesday’s hearing by talking about the oaths that she and Bovino took upon entering public office. “My role is not to tell you that you can or cannot enforce validly passed laws by Congress. That’s not my role. … My role is simply to see that any enforcement of those laws” is done “in a manner that is consistent with your obligations under the law,” she said.
She also walked Bovino through the temporary restraining order she issued earlier this month that prohibited using force, riot control weapons or threats against journalists and protesters. It also required federal agents to issue warnings before deploying riot control weapons and said that agents “currently equipped and trained with body-worn cameras” shall activate them when participating in enforcement activity.
“Section 1A means, essentially, that you’ve got to leave journalists alone. If they’re doing their job, they need to be left alone to do their job,” Ellis said.
Before Tuesday’s hearing, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson had said, “DHS can think of nobody better to correct Judge Ellis’ deep misconceptions” than Bovino.
Ellis will have multiple options if she’s unhappy with Bovino, including a potential finding of contempt or other sanctions like banning tear gas. However, she wasn’t so confrontational when questioning two lower-ranking officials during a separate proceeding last week.
The judge’s decision to summon Bovino into her courtroom set the stage for this latest hearing at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse over the feds’ use of force during the aggressive deportation campaign known as “Operation Midway Blitz.”
The judge is presiding over a lawsuit about the feds’ treatment of protesters amid the campaign. The lawsuit was brought by media organizations, including the Chicago Headline Club, Block Club Chicago and the Chicago Newspaper Guild, which represents journalists at the Chicago Sun-Times.
The case has already led to orders forbidding agents from using gas and other “riot control” weapons without two warnings or against people who pose no immediate threat. The judge also ordered agents “currently equipped and trained with body-worn cameras” to activate them when participating in enforcement activity.
The Dirksen Federal Courthouse.
Ellis said early last week that the plaintiffs’ lawyers could spend two hours deposing Bovino under oath behind closed doors. The deposition is scheduled for Wednesday, a proceeding that’s separate from Tuesday’s hearing. Ellis said that in the deposition, the plaintiffs’ lawyers must limit their questions to “how” federal officers are enforcing the law and whether they are violating people’s constitutional rights. She said at the time that Bovino should not be asked “why” Chicago has been targeted for the immigration campaign.
But Thursday, Ellis more than doubled the time limits on Bovino’s deposition, expanding it to five hours. She did so moments before attorneys in the case accused Bovino of violating one of her earlier orders by tossing tear gas into a crowd in Little Village without justification.
One day later, she ordered the Trump administration to “produce Defendant Gregory Bovino, in person,” for Tuesday’s hearing.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that Bovino participated Thursday in the deployment of “riot control measures” after a crowd “grew more hostile” and began throwing rocks and other objects at agents, “including one that struck Chief Greg Bovino in the head.”
She also said Border Patrol agents “repeated multiple warnings” to the crowd.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers insist “the statement is a lie.”
“The crowd in Little Village was peaceful at the moment Defendant Bovino started the conflict by launching canisters of tear gas into the assembled crowd, and … no warnings or dispersal orders were given before he did so,” they wrote in a weekend court filing.
In additional filings Monday, the plaintiffs’ lawyers complained that agents deployed multiple canisters of tear gas without warning Friday in Lake View, and that they did so without wearing identifying numbers or badges as also required by Ellis’ order.
Additionally, they pointed to an incident Saturday in Old Irving Park. They told Ellis that “federal agents unleashed violence, tackling at least three people, including one who is approximately 70 years old. … Another man was speaking with agents, did not appear to be hurting anyone or threatening anyone, and they tackled him to the ground and put him in a headlock.”
The lawyers explained that “children in the neighborhood were preparing for a Halloween parade. … People were in their pajamas; one woman came outside with her wet head in a towel.”
“This experience,” they wrote, “was terrifying for residents.”
Neither the reporter nor editors working on this story — which include some represented by the News Guild — have been involved in this lawsuit.
This is a developing story.
