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Federal judge to hold permanent injunction hearing on use of force by immigration agents before next spring

Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune on

Published in News & Features

CHICAGO — A federal judge on Thursday said she will hold a hearing on a permanent injunction to limit the use of force by federal immigration agents ahead of any potential future enforcement mission.

“I would want to do a trial on any motion for a permanent injunction before there was another ramp-up of the operation in the spring,” U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis told attorneys at a status hearing. “It would make sense that if it does ramp up again, everyone knows what the rules are.”

Ellis made the remarks a week after issuing a preliminary injunction restricting how and when immigration agents can deploy tear gas and use other force against protesters, media and clergy during enforcement operations. Her order also made body-worn cameras mandatory and required agents to wear identifiers on their uniforms during public interactions.

The judge set a tentative hearing on a permanent injunction for March 2.

The Chicago Tribune reported on Monday that the Trump administration’s highly publicized immigration enforcement action dubbed Operation Midway Blitz was winding down after two months of controversy, and that the mission’s leader, Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, was leaving Chicago for another assignment.

During the hearing Thursday, Department of Justice attorney Andrew Warden said he was unaware of any plans to increase operations in Chicago again.

“I don’t know whether that’s the case,” Warden said. “There has been a transition of officers, as there always is. Folks come in and out of operations.”

Also, on Thursday, the plaintiffs filed new allegations that immigration agents had violated Ellis’ orders, including one incident in Chicago where agents pepper-sprayed a moving vehicle — and then its driver — at the same time the judge was on the bench reading her ruling on Nov. 6.

Two days later, agents tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed unarmed civilians who were protesting and trying to document an enforcement action in the city’s Little Village neighborhood, according to the latest filing.

Another violation involved an incident at a Sam’s Club in Cicero on Saturday, where a pepper ball was allegedly fired at a car by agents passing in a pickup truck, injuring a couple and their 1-year-old baby.

 

In court Thursday, lead plaintiff’s attorney Steve Art said all of the alleged violations since Ellis first issued a temporary restraining order in early October will be submitted for the judge’s consideration in a future motion for sanctions against the government.

“At this point, you’ve made the record, and we can deal with the sanctions issue at some point,” Ellis said. “We’ve got other things that are a little higher priority.”

She set a status hearing for Nov. 20, when a full written opinion explaining her injunction ruling could be issued.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice has filed an appeal with the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and asked for a stay on Ellis’ order while it plays out.

The appeals court has yet to rule on that request.

Ellis’ Nov. 6 ruling came after a marathon day of evidence that featured the sworn videotaped deposition of Bovino, the tough-talking face of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement push, as well as live testimony from more than a half-dozen witnesses who said immigration agents pointed guns at citizens and threatened to arrest protesters who were doing nothing more than recording the agents’ activities on the street.

Lawyers for the government claimed it was the protesters who were inflicting violence on the agents and that the agents were forced to defend themselves from being hit by rocks, boxed in by vehicles and shot at.

In announcing her decision, Ellis said she found those allegations to not be credible based on hours of body camera footage and use-of-force reports submitted to the court.

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