CHICAGO — A federal judge has summoned the Chicago ICE field director to court next week to address a series of concerning incidents.
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Last Thursday, Federal Judge Sara Ellis expressed her alarm over potential breaches of a temporary restraining order (TRO) she had put in place to restrict federal agents’ use of tear gas and other crowd control methods. The order was issued last week, and Judge Ellis emphasized her “deep concern” over reports of violations.
As a result, Judge Ellis has mandated the presence of Chicago ICE Field Office Director Russell Hott in court on Monday. He is expected to respond to questions about multiple alleged violations.
In addition, Judge Ellis has revised the TRO to mandate that all agents involved in Operation Midway Blitz, including those from ICE and CBP, must wear and activate body cameras during “law enforcement activities” in Chicago.
The use of body cameras aims to verify whether agents comply with court orders to provide two warnings before deploying tear gas, rubber bullets, or other measures in the Chicago area, according to the judge.
Judge Ellis initiated the court hearing at the Dirksen courthouse after witnessing a protest on the Southeast Side escalate into a tear gas incident following a chase on Tuesday.
Attorney Sean Skedzieiewski, representing the Dept of Homeland Security, said the judge just does not have all the facts on these incidents and news reports about Albany Park are inaccurate. The attorney had no information on the Southeast Side incident.
Skedzieiewski added that not all agents have been issued body-cameras, including in the Chicago Area of Responsibility.
CBP agents may have been issued body-cams under a different program, and since CBP agents are here, the attorney said they may have access to, and have already been trained on when to activate their cameras.
Given the government shutdown, the government’s attorney said rolling out a costly program like this would be challenging.
“Numbers of [agents] are changing daily. Consider the lapse of appropriations we’re dealing with, I don’t think we would be able to roll out a body cam program for ICE. Maybe workable for CBP,” Skedzieiewski said.
Judge Ellis wants to know how many agents are equipped with and trained on when to activate their body cams at Monday’s hearing.
Ellis stressed that this is just as important for the government as it is for accountability that her orders are being followed.
“Frankly, Mr. Skedzieiewski, this is going to help the agency [Department of Homeland Security/ICE],” Ellis said. “If there are issues, or I have a concern or plaintiffs’ counsel have a concern, that we think there’s a violation, we can go back to the cameras.”
This is a developing story.
