U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis heard from Border Patrol officials and Chicagoans impacted by the president’s Midway Blitz crackdown as she weighs whether to extend restrictions on federal agents.
Illinois representative stopped by Border Patrol agents in Chicago
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers stopped Illinois Representative Hoan Huynh while he and one of his staffers were driving in Chicago on Tuesday, October 21.
CHICAGO – President Donald Trump‘s top enforcer behind Operation Midway Blitz said in a video court deposition that he believes his agents’ “uses of force have been more than exemplary” despite citizen complaints that have alleged teargassing, unlawful arrests and beatings.
The sworn testimony of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Chief Patrol Agent Greg Bovino, heard in U.S. District Court in Chicago Nov. 5, comes in response to a lawsuit over federal agents’ tactics. A group of clergy, journalists and protesters brought the lawsuit, saying that agents’ tactics are scaring people from exercising their religion and right to free speech.
Among witnesses who testified Wednesday were a local pastor shot in the head with a pepper ball; a suburban elected official whose arrest by Bovino was caught on camera; and two women who recorded immigration crackdowns and were later stopped by agents at gunpoint.
“They aimed it right at me, I could see inside the barrel,” said Leslie Cortez, one of the two women. She was approached by agents after recording them arresting day laborers. “My heart accelerated, I was nervous they were going to shoot, I froze.”
Defendants in the case include Bovino, Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem, Trump and top Homeland Security officials. Lawyers for the defense called Border Patrol Supervisory Agent Kristopher Hewson as a witness. Portions of a five-hour deposition Bovino was ordered to give were also played in court as well as body-worn camera footage and other videos.
Bovino testified that agents are justified to take the actions they have in Chicago and elsewhere.
“When someone refuses a lawful order from a law enforcement officer, that in my view, that’s an indicatory element,” Bovino said in the deposition, “because not following instructions is an indicator that someone is ready to break the law.”
The case was first filed in the Northern District of Illinois on Oct. 6. Presiding Judge Sara L. Ellis first issued a temporary restraining order in the case on Oct. 9, compelling federal agents to give warnings before using chemical weapons. Ellis amended the order on Oct. 16 to ensure agents also used body-worn cameras.
Ellis is weighing whether to extend her temporary restraining order. After around nine hours of court proceedings, Ellis told attorneys to return to court on Nov. 6 when she would issue an oral ruling.
Since issuing the restraining order, federal agents have used chemical agents in a number of instances that have sparked complaints from Chicagoans. The complaints from citizens include that federal agents used tear gas on a North Side residential street on Oct. 25, leaving kids “tear-gassed on their way to celebrate Halloween. That complaint sparked a warning from Ellis just prior to Halloween that she would be watching for more complaints about people being harassed on Halloween.
Other complaints include video footage showing Bovino himself deploying tear gas on Oct. 23 and agents releasing tear gas on Oct. 22 in Chicago’s most prominent Mexican neighborhood amid a raid that a local alderman called a “reign of terror.”
‘We’ll let you go this time’
Jo-Elle Munchak was the second woman who testified in court on Nov. 5 that federal agents stopped her at gunpoint after she recorded them making an arrest. The incident came on Oct. 10, not far from her home on the North Side of Chicago.
Afterwards, Munchak says agents pulled their car in front of hers and surrounded the vehicle, pounding on it, telling her to open the doors and pointing a gun at her.
“It’s been tough,” Munchak, a privacy compliance manager, said of the weeks since the incident. “It really shook me up, I’ve never had a gun pointed at me.”
The North Side woman said that after she refused to open the car, an agent told her, “We’ll let you go this time, but next time we’ll detain you.”
Munchak said that since the incident she has stopped attempting to record federal agents and avoids protests. She said she recently had back surgery and worries what could have happened to her if agents had pulled her from her car to detain her, as has happened to other U.S. citizens in Chicago.
Man says Bovino tackled him
Juan Muñoz, a trustee in the suburb of Oak Park, just west of Chicago, said in court that he was tackled and arrested by Bovino while attending a protest outside an immigration processing center in the nearby suburb of Broadview.
“I turned and saw it was Gregory Bovino,” said Muñoz of the moment he felt someone tugging at his shoulder. “He smacked the phone out of my hand and said, ‘You’re under arrest.'”
Muñoz had been filming the protest, saying that he had seen agents use chemical agents on demonstrators before and wanted to be ready to document them doing so again.
Lawyers played a video clip of the moment in court. Bovino appears to be arguing with a man standing near Muñoz who says something that visibly upsets the chief. Bovino steps over a barrier separating the two sides and arrests the man and Muñoz, taking both to the ground.
Muñoz says he spent eight hours inside the immigration detention facility before agents released him at a gas station about a mile away without explanation. He feared his common Hispanic name meant that he had been mistaken for an undocumented immigrant. He testified that he has been hesitant to attend protests since the incident.
Attorneys deposing Bovino played him a clip of the incident. He denies that he tackled either Muñoz or the other man Scott Blackburn.
“You got over the barrier and tackled him,” the attorney says to Bovino.
“No,” says the chief.
“What are you doing?” the lawyer asks, off camera.
Bovino says he was “imploring” Blackburn to leave the area.
“That was not a reportable use of force, I placed him under arrest, I did not tackle him, I placed him under arrest,” Bovino said. “The use of force was against me.”
Tear gas ‘doesn’t harm people,’ Border Patrol agent says
Defendants in the case called one witness to the stand: Border Patrol Supervisory Agent Hewson, a veteran of the agency who also accompanied Bovino for his crackdown on the Los Angeles area over the summer.
Hewson said he joined up in 2006 in response to 9/11 and a sense of needing to “protect this great nation.”
The Border Patrol agent was called to testify about instances of use of force and lawyers played segments of his body camera footage.
Hewson said that he and other immigration agents were already complying with the stipulations of Ellis’ order before she issued her rules.
“To my knowledge your TRO has not affected me,” said Hewson, referring to the temporary restraining order.
Among videos played, body-worn camera footage shows Hewson chasing a woman who appeared to kick a tear gas canister agents threw at her. He grabs the woman from behind, says an expletive and tells her she’s under arrest.
Hewson described the woman’s actions as “assaultive.” His characterization came after he testified that tear gas “doesn’t harm people.”
Another video shows Hewson grabbing what he calls a “shield with nails protruding” from protesters.
“Someone with a shield like that is on the verge of being assaultive,” he said.
Asked in court to provide proof that the items had nails fixed to them, Hewson said agents threw them away after the incident.