CHICAGO — A newly released video from this summer shows Border Control boss Greg Bovino, now the commander of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, telling federal agents in Los Angeles, “It’s f—ing ours, it’s our f—ing city,” and urging them to “arrest as many people that touch you as you want to.”
Body-camera video taken on June 7 was made public this week in an ongoing federal lawsuit restricting federal immigration agents’ use of force in the Chicago area.
As the on-the-ground leader of the federal government’s immigration crackdown in Chicago, Bovino has been a central figure in the high-profile lawsuit, which was filed last month on behalf of Block Club Chicago and other media organizations and journalists.
Video of Bovino’s hourslong deposition shows attorneys for the plaintiffs asking Bovino about the Los Angeles body camera video.
The video shows Bovino giving a pep talk to several Border Control agents in what appears to be a parking lot. The video was taken during the height of aggressive immigration sweeps and mass protests in Los Angeles.
“Arrest as many people that touch you as you want to. Those are the general orders,” Bovino tells the agents in Los Angeles in the roughly 30-second video.
“Everybody f—ing gets it, if they touch you, you hear what I’m saying? Less-lethals? We’re gonna look at shipping tractor trailers of that s— in here, so it’s all about us now. It ain’t about them. Professional, legal, ethical, moral — you know what I’m talking about, legal, ethical, moral. … You’re on camera, but other than that … it’s what we do.”
Another agent asks, “Whose city is it, chief?”
“It’s f—ing ours, it’s our f—ing city,” Bovino replies.
WATCH THE VIDEO:
In the deposition, an attorney for the plaintiffs asked Bovino if the sentiment he expressed in the video applies to the immigration “blitz” in Chicago.
“If anyone touches you … legally, ethically, morally — it applies anywhere,” Bovino said.
But when the attorney asked Bovino if he was giving the instruction that officers had full rein to arrest anyone who so much as touched them, Bovino replied, “No.”
VIDEO OF THE DEPOSITION:
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis on Thursday extended restrictions she put on area immigration enforcement through a temporary restraining order last month. The order limits federal immigration agents’ use of force, including tear gas and riot-control weapons, against peaceful protesters, journalists and others. It also mandates that agents wear badges or display other visible identification, and it requires that most agents use body cameras.
“The government would have people believe, instead, that the Chicagoland area is in a vise-hold of violence, ransacked by rioters and attacked by agitators,” Ellis said in her ruling. “That simply is untrue. And the government’s own evidence in this case belies that assertion.
“After reviewing all of the evidence submitted and listening to the testimony, I find the defendants’ evidence simply not credible.”
Ellis cited a series of examples, noting that Bovino admitted in the deposition that he lied when claiming he was hit by a rock before tear-gassing people in Little Village last month.
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