Judge to dismiss border agents after Chicago tear gas

A federal judge in Chicago said she will allow top officials, including Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, to be removed from office after chemical agents were deployed during immigration operations in Chicago, potentially violating a temporary restraining order she had in place.

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, appointed by former President Barack Obama, held an emergency hearing Monday into possible violations stemming from two incidents, according to multiple reports.

Border Patrol official Kyle Harvick said agents used tear gas on Oct. 12 in Albany Park on the city’s North Side and again on Oct. 14 on the East Side. Harvick argued that the gas was deployed because those involved were not peacefully protesting but rather interfering with an active immigration enforcement operation.

Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino is seen during an immigration enforcement operation in Chicago. A federal judge later ordered Bovino and other officials removed from office for using tear gas.

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The deployment came after Ellis issued an Oct. 9 order prohibiting federal agents from using crowd control devices such as tear gas (CS gas) or pepper balls on protesters, journalists and clergy as long as there was no threat to others, according to NBCChicago.

Harvick told the court that the Albany Park protesters were “actively resisting” by locking arms and preventing Border Patrol agents from leaving and that the agents issued a verbal warning before deploying the gas. In the East Side incident, Harvick said people in the crowd began throwing objects at officers before the gas was deployed.

“Why was it appropriate to use CS gas in Albany Park?” » asked Ellis.

Harvick responded: “That scene was an enforcement action. It was not a protest.”

Ellis raised concerns about oversight and accountability because no officers have been disciplined for possible use of force violations. Harvick admitted that no disciplinary action had been taken since the start of the operation, known as Operation Midway Blitz.

Federal law enforcement agents confront protesters demonstrating outside an immigrant processing center in Broadview, Illinois, earlier this month. (Getty Images)

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Shawn Byers, deputy director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office, acknowledged that he had not reviewed any use of force reports related to a September incident at the ICE processing center in Broadview, even though his own Special Response Team (SRT) was involved.

Ellis reacted sharply to that response, saying she was “a little surprised” and expected he would have reviewed those reports, given his supervisory position. She said this lack of oversight helped her expand the investigation up the chain of command to include Bovino, former ICE Chicago Field Office Director Russell Hott and CBP Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Daniel Parra, according to Bloomberg Law.

Ellis also ordered authorities to preserve all video evidence, including body camera footage, even though ICE said some Broadview videos may have already been overwritten. She also led the expansion of the use of body cameras in both agencies.

The incidents occurred during Operation Midway Blitz, a joint immigration enforcement campaign by ICE and the Border Patrol in the Chicago area aimed at apprehending criminal illegal immigrants and fugitives with prior deportation orders.

The hearing coincided with Illinois’ deadline to respond to the Trump administration’s petition to the Supreme Court to overturn limits on National Guard deployment in the state.

On Monday, Illinois responded by asserting that the deployment of troops violated Illinois sovereignty and that there was no credible evidence of an organized rebellion in Illinois.

President Donald Trump and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. Trump said he might invoke the Insurrection Act to combat violent crime in Chicago and urged Pritzker to “ask for help,” escalating their political standoff. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images; Talia Sprague/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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President Donald Trump has already deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Memphis, Tennessee, to help combat violent crime. He said these measures had led to a drop in crime in these areas.

Last week, the president floated the idea of ​​invoking the Insurrection Act to combat violent crime in Chicago and urged Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to “ask for help” from the federal government.

The Insurrection Act of 1807 gives the president the authority to deploy active-duty military troops or federalized National Guard troops domestically in limited circumstances, such as to suppress civil unrest, rebellion, or obstruction of federal law. It has been invoked around thirty times by around ten presidents, most recently by George HW Bush during the Los Angeles riots in 1992, according to the Associated Press.