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<\/p>\nU.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis heard from Border Patrol officials and Chicagoans impacted by the president\u2019s Midway Blitz crackdown as she weighs whether to extend restrictions on federal agents.<\/p>\n
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Illinois representative stopped by Border Patrol agents in Chicago<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
CHICAGO \u2013 President Donald Trump<\/a>‘s top enforcer behind Operation Midway Blitz<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n The sworn testimony of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Chief Patrol Agent Greg Bovino<\/a>, heard in U.S. District Court in Chicago Nov. 5, comes in response to a lawsuit over federal agents\u2019 tactics<\/a>. A group of clergy, journalists and protesters brought the lawsuit, saying that agents\u2019 tactics are scaring people from exercising their religion and right to free speech.<\/p>\n Among witnesses who testified Wednesday were a local pastor shot in the head<\/a> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n Defendants in the case include Bovino, Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem<\/a>, Trump<\/a> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bovino testified that agents are justified to take the actions they have in Chicago and elsewhere.<\/p>\n “When someone refuses a lawful order from a law enforcement officer, that in my view, that\u2019s an indicatory element,” Bovino said in the deposition, “because not following instructions is an indicator that someone is ready to break the law.”<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Other complaints include video footage showing Bovino himself deploying tear gas<\/a> on Oct. 23 and agents releasing tear gas on Oct. 22 in Chicago\u2019s most prominent Mexican neighborhood amid a raid that a local alderman called a “reign of terror<\/a>.”<\/p>\n ‘We\u2019ll let you go this time’<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n “It\u2019s been tough,” Munchak, a privacy compliance manager, said of the weeks since the incident. “It really shook me up, I\u2019ve never had a gun pointed at me.”\u00a0<\/p>\n The North Side woman said that after she refused to open the car, an agent told her, “We\u2019ll let you go this time, but next time we\u2019ll detain you.”<\/p>\n 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<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Man says Bovino tackled him<\/p>\n Juan Mu\u00f1oz, 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<\/a> in the nearby suburb of Broadview.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I turned and saw it was Gregory Bovino,” said Mu\u00f1oz of the moment he felt someone tugging at his shoulder. “He smacked the phone out of my hand and said, ‘You\u2019re under arrest.'”<\/p>\n