CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 An appeals court intervened Wednesday and suddenly blocked an order that required a senior Border Patrol official to give unprecedented daily briefings to a judge about immigration sweeps in Chicago.<\/p>\n
The one-page suspension by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came before Greg Bovino\u2019s first late-afternoon meeting with U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis at the courthouse in downtown Chicago.<\/p>\n
Ellis ordered the meetings<\/a> Tuesday after weeks of tense encounters and increasingly aggressive tactics<\/a> by government agents working Operation Midway Blitz, which has resulted in more than 1,800 arrests<\/a> and complaints of excessive force.<\/p>\n Bovino told Fox News that he was eager to talk to Ellis. But government lawyers were appealing her decision at the same time, calling it \u201cextraordinarily disruptive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe order significantly interferes with the quintessentially executive function of ensuring the Nation\u2019s immigration laws are properly enforced by waylaying a senior executive official critical to that mission on a daily basis,\u201d the Justice Department argued.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are thrilled this act of judicial overreach has been paused,\u201d the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n Attorneys still met with Ellis in the evening to discuss logistics in the evidence-gathering phase of the case. They agreed to a 9 p.m. deadline to submit body camera recordings of federal agents using tear gas on people in the predominantly Mexican American neighborhood of Little Village last week.<\/p>\n Judge troubled by tear gas<\/p>\n Lawyers for news outlets and activists whose lawsuit alleging excessive force<\/a> by agents in and around Chicago prompted the judge to order the briefings from Bovino have until 5 p.m. Thursday to respond in the appeals court.<\/p>\n Ellis\u2019 order followed the use of tear gas in a neighborhood where children gathered for a Halloween parade last weekend on Chicago\u2019s Northwest Side. Neighbors joined in the street as someone was arrested. <\/p>\n \u201cHalloween is on Friday,\u201d the judge said Tuesday. \u201cI do not want to get violation reports from the plaintiffs that show that agents are out and about on Halloween, where kids are present and tear gas is being deployed.\u201d<\/p>\n Bovino defended agents\u2019 actions.<\/p>\n \u201cIf she wants to meet with me every day, then she\u2019s going to see, she\u2019s going to have a very good firsthand look at just how bad things really are on the streets of Chicago,\u201d Bovino told Fox News. \u201cI look forward to meeting with that judge to show her exactly what\u2019s happening and the extreme amount of violence perpetrated against law enforcement here.\u201d<\/p>\n Related cases in many courts<\/p>\n Meanwhile prosecutors filed charges<\/a> against Kat Abughazaleh, a Democratic congressional candidate, and five other people over protests at an immigration enforcement building in Broadview, outside Chicago. The indictment unsealed Wednesday accuses them of illegally blocking an agent\u2019s car on Sept. 26.<\/p>\n Abughazaleh called the prosecution an \u201cattempt to silence dissent.\u201d<\/p>\n The Chicago court actions came as groups and officials across the country have filed lawsuits aimed at restricting federal deployments of National Guard troops.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump\u2019s administration will remain blocked from deploying troops in the Chicago area until at least the latter half of November, following a U.S. Supreme Court order Wednesday calling on the parties to file additional legal briefs.<\/p>\n The justices indicated that they would not act before Nov. 17 on the administration\u2019s emergency appeal to overturn a lower-court ruling blocking the deployments.<\/p>\n In Portland, Oregon, a federal trial<\/a> seeking to block a troop deployment got underway<\/a> Wednesday morning with a police commander describing on the witness stand how federal agents at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building repeatedly fired tear gas at nonviolent protesters.<\/p>\n Judge wants real-time updates<\/p>\n