Border Patrol’s Bovino to face questioning after continued tear gas use in Chicago

Immigration agents deployed chemical agents in Chicago neighborhoods over the weekend, as attorneys argue the actions violate a temporary restraining order against such tactics.

CHICAGO — The mounting tensions between immigration officials and residents across the Chicago area are poised to come to a head Tuesday when top U.S. Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino personally appears in federal court, following a judge’s order.

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis ordered Friday that the government “produce Defendant Gregory Bovino, in person, for this hearing” after Bovino and immigration agents were captured on video and in photos deploying chemical agents in numerous residential neighborhoods here.

Ellis had issued a temporary restraining order dictating that immigration authorities must curb such tactics when they are not under threat, particularly where the general public could be affected. She also ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents must wear — and turn on — body cameras when they interface with the public.

After Ellis’ temporary restraining order was issued on Oct. 6, Bovino was captured in what are now well-publicized videos and photos tossing what appeared to be a tear gas canister into a crowd during an operation in the Chicago’s heavily Latino Little Village area last week. And over the weekend, numerous videos emerged of agents deploying chemical agents after having carried out operations in the suburban Old Irving Park and Addison neighborhoods, which are considered some of the calmer and safer areas of the city.

Bovino, the Border Patrol sector chief overseeing the agency’s operations in Chicago and previously in Los Angeles, and Customs and Border Protection officials have defended the recent use of tear gas and other tactics, arguing the agents were under threat and thus not in violation of the judge’s order. In some cases, witnesses have contested those claims and said they were given no warning before tear gas was used.