A federal judge in Chicago has temporarily barred the Department of Homeland Security from using crowd control weapons like tear gas and pepper balls on local journalists who are covering the Trump administration’s confrontations with demonstrators.
A suit filed earlier this week by news outlets and media associations, among others, claimed that federal agents used “indiscriminate” force and interfered with the freedoms of the press. Critics have accused the federal government of employing excessive force while attempting to control crowds at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Broadview.
Several journalists say they’ve been hit with rubber bullets or other projectiles and tear-gassed, according to the suit.
The order Thursday from U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis prohibits DHS personnel, including ICE officers and Border Patrol agents, from “dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, threatening or using physical force against any person whom they know or reasonably should know is a journalist.”
The judge’s 14-day temporary restraining order lays out conditions under which federal authorities can make exceptions, such as when they have probable cause to believe a journalist has committed a crime.
Federal agents should recognize journalists by visual identification cues, such as press credentials, patches, and videography equipment, said the judge, who also suggested that people “standing off to the side of a protest, not engaging in chanting, sign holding, shouting slogans” may be members of the media.
The temporary order, which covers the Northern District of Illinois, also requires federal agents to wear “visible identification” unless they are plainclothes or undercover agents.
DHS officials say their agents have been endangered by violent protesters in Chicago but “take every reasonable precaution” to protect First Amendment rights.
“The First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly not rioting,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Washington Post.
Clashes between protesters and federal authorities have occurred since the Trump administration last month sent a surge of resources to Chicago, a sanctuary city, to enforce immigration laws.
