{"id":404099,"date":"2025-11-25T17:47:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/404099\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T17:47:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T17:47:12","slug":"feds-repeatedly-lied-and-misled-the-public-during-chicago-immigration-crackdown-federal-judge-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/404099\/","title":{"rendered":"Feds Repeatedly Lied And Misled The Public During Chicago Immigration Crackdown, Federal Judge Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO \u2014\u00a0For two months, federal immigration agents unleashed \u201cindiscriminate\u201d force on peaceful protesters and others across the Chicago area \u2014 and the federal government defended the aggressive tactics by repeatedly lying, deceiving the public and making claims disproven by their own evidence, according to a federal judge\u2019s scathing ruling.<\/p>\n

Last week, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued a sweeping, 233-page written opinion in the use of force lawsuit filed on behalf of Block Club Chicago, other media groups representing journalists, protesters and clergy. <\/p>\n

In her ruling, Ellis calls attention to a pattern of federal immigration agents using unnecessary force against peaceful protesters and others in neighborhoods across the Chicago area since Operation Midway Blitz began in early September. But the federal judge spent at least as much time highlighting lies and distortions by immigration authorities in press releases, social media posts and their own internal reports.<\/p>\n

The federal government has said agents have used justified force to respond to \u201crioters,\u201d \u201cagitators\u201d and violence. But Ellis said she couldn\u2019t find any evidence of \u201cviolent rioters\u201d in Chicago in the 500 hours of body camera footage and videos provided by government attorneys.<\/p>\n

ICE officials said a protest on Sept. 27 outside of the ICE processing facility in suburban Broadview escalated when protesters shot fireworks toward agents. But federal authorities later admitted they weren\u2019t fireworks \u2014 they were flash bang grenades deployed by agents on the scene, according to Ellis\u2019 ruling.<\/p>\n

In another example, Russell Hott<\/a>, then a field director for ICE, said a Broadview protester ripped off an agent\u2019s beard and demonstrators broke a downspout at the ICE facility. But later in a deposition, Hott \u201cacknowledged that he did not even know if it was a person that caused the damage to the downspout, much less a protester, and that he did not have proof that the agent\u2019s beard was actually ripped off his face,\u201d the ruling said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino arrives at the Federal Building in the Loop on Oct. 28, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n

Ellis wrote that she repeatedly found testimony by Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, the on-the-ground leader of Operation Midway Blitz, not credible. Bovino was evasive, either giving \u201ccute\u201d answers to attorney\u2019s questions or outright lying, the judge said in her ruling.<\/p>\n

Bovino admitted in his deposition that he lied \u201cmultiple times\u201d about the events before he threw tear gas at protesters during a standoff with neighbors in Little Village on Oct. 23<\/a>, according to the ruling. For instance, he initially testified that he tear-gassed the crowd after a protester threw a rock at him, but he later admitted that he was \u201cmistaken\u201d and he actually deployed the gas before a rock was thrown at him.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Border Patrol Boss Bovino Tear-Gasses Chicago Crowd, Violating Judge\u2019s Order, Lawyers Say<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Border Patrol veteran testified that members of the Latin Kings gang wearing maroon hoodies were seen taking weapons out of a car during a tense protest in Little Village on Oct. 23. Yet video footage shows only a few people in the area were dressed in maroon, including Pilsen Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez (25th). Bovino\u2019s broader theory \u2014 that maroon hoodies signify Latin Kings membership \u2014\u00a0\u201cstrains credulity,\u201d Ellis wrote. <\/p>\n

Bovino also denied that a federal agent shot pepper balls at Rev. David Black and that he tackled protester Steve Blackburn despite clear video evidence of both incidents, according to the ruling.<\/p>\n

Of videos and other evidence the federal government submitted to justify its use of force, Ellis said, \u201ca review of them shows the opposite\u2014supporting Plaintiffs\u2019 claims and undermining all of Defendants claims.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, after reviewing all the evidence, the Court finds that Defendants\u2019 widespread misrepresentations call into question everything that Defendants say they are doing in their characterization of what is happening at the Broadview facility or out in the streets of the Chicagoland area during law enforcement activities,\u201d the judge wrote. <\/p>\n

Ellis issued her written opinion last week. It expounds on the decision she read aloud in court on Nov. 7 extending restrictions on federal immigration agents\u2019 use of force<\/a> in the Chicago area.<\/p>\n

That preliminary injunction \u2014 built on what Ellis described in her written ruling as \u201ca mountain of evidence\u201d \u2014 limits agents\u2019 use of tear gas, riot-control weapons and other kinds of force against journalists, peaceful protesters and bystanders. It also mandates that agents wear badges or display other visible identification, and it requires that most agents use body cameras.<\/p>\n

Ellis set a trial date for March<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 before another possible immigration crackdown\u00a0in the spring<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino stands at the front as dozens of neighbors confront federal agents in Cicero just outside Little Village as the agents conduct immigration raids in the area on Oct. 22, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle\/Block Club Chicago<\/p>\n

Three days after Ellis read her order in court, the Trump administration\u00a0filed an emergency motion<\/a>\u00a0asking the appellate court to stop the order immediately, arguing the \u201coverbroad and unworkable injunction has no basis in law, threatens the safety of federal officers, and violates the separation of powers.\u201d Last week, a federal appellate court paused Ellis\u2019 order<\/a>, calling it an \u201coverbroad\u201d encroachment on the powers of the federal executive branch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, the appellate court cautioned that its brief ruling was not the end of the matter, noting \u201cvoluminous and robust factual findings\u201d about First Amendment violations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose findings may support entry of a more tailored and appropriate preliminary injunction that directly addresses the First and Fourth Amendment claims raised by these plaintiffs,\u201d the appellate ruling stated.<\/p>\n

Ellis\u2019 written opinion is the latest development in the lawsuit. Experts say it is \u201cextraordinary\u201d on a few levels: It\u2019s extremely detailed and lengthy, and it emphasizes that federal immigration authorities lied and misrepresented the truth throughout the deportation campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t like she caught one key witness lying about one thing; they were lying about incidents all across the Chicago area,\u201d said former Cook County prosecutor Thomas Needham, who runs a criminal defense law firm.<\/p>\n

Richard Kling, a clinical professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, said judges rarely have the benefit of comparing live, in-court testimony against a large volume of video evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those things that\u2019s going to go down in history,\u201d Kling said. \u201cI\u2019ve been practicing 50 years, I\u2019ve never seen anything like this in my life, where you have essentially the feds sending in storm troopers who are fighting the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the opinion:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Mick Dumke contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014\u00a0For two months, federal immigration agents unleashed \u201cindiscriminate\u201d force on peaceful protesters and others across the Chicago…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":404100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818,121074],"class_list":{"0":"post-404099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois","11":"tag-operation-midway-blitz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115611596417537762","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}