Judge's blistering opinion details use of force in Chicago-area
immigration crackdown
[November 22, 2025]
By CHRISTINE FERNANDO
CHICAGO (AP) — A judge's blistering 223-page opinion has offered a cache
of striking new details from body camera footage about agents' use of
force during a federal immigration crackdown in the Chicago area dubbed
“Operation Midway Blitz.”
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis' opinion issued Thursday recounts many
high-profile clashes between federal agents and protesters, repeatedly
using body camera footage to refute the federal government's narratives
from court, use-of-force reports, filmed depositions and press releases.
It describes scenes of agents launching tear gas without warning, aiming
rubber rounds at reporters, tackling protesters and laughing as blood
oozed from a demonstrator’s ear — incidents Ellis says were flatly at
odds with the government’s own narratives.
Ellis expressed surprise about federal officials pointing her to
specific videos, which she later found showed agents violating her
orders restricting the use of force.
The opinion outlines Ellis' findings in issuing a preliminary injunction
earlier this month in response to a lawsuit filed by news outlets and
protesters who claimed federal officers used excessive force during an
immigration crackdown that has netted more than 3,000 arrests since
September across the nation’s third-largest city and its many suburbs.
Among other things, Ellis’ order restricted agents from using physical
force and chemical agents like tear gas and pepper balls, unless
necessary or to prevent an “an immediate threat.” She said the current
practices violated the constitutional rights of journalists and
protesters.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday temporarily halted the order,
calling it “overbroad” and “too prescriptive.” But the 7th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals also cautioned against “overreading” its stay and said
a quick appeal process could lead to a “more tailored and appropriate”
order.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland
Security, called the 7th Circuit's ruling "a win for the rule of law and
for the safety of every law enforcement officer."
“Judge Ellis’ thoughts on 20th century poetry and Chief Bovino’s conduct
in the order are noted,” McLaughlin said in a statement to The
Associated Press. “They don’t change the reality of the situation on the
ground and at the appeals level.”
Judge says footage shows excessive force
The opinion delineates the results of Ellis' review of extensive
body-worn camera footage and testimony that she says reflected
indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force as agents repeatedly
used tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper balls and flashbangs without
warnings or justification. It also described tense moments when Ellis
says agents shot flash-bang grenades at the backs of protesters as they
fled, kicked protesters on the ground, caused a car accident during a
Halloween celebration, threatened to shoot residents while pointing guns
at them, shot pepper balls at the heads of journalists and praying
clergy members, and tackled protesters to the ground.
The opinion accuses federal agents of not following Ellis' previous
orders by using tear gas and other weapons on peaceful protesters,
failing to give two explicit warnings before deploying munitions and not
wearing clear identification.
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A federal immigration enforcement agent sprays Rev. David Black, of
the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, as he demonstrates outside
the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview,
Ill, on Sept. 19, 2025. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP,
File)
It also described agents' apparent delight as they lobbed tear gas
canisters at protesters. One agent declared that “We’re definitely
gassing them when we leave. Just start throwing (expletive)” and another
said “We can (expletive) ’em up,” according to body camera footage
described in the opinion.
Ellis also accused agents of “actively attempting to rile up the
protesters," making “dismissive remarks” and “laughing” while firing
munitions at protesters. She described agents who “laughed and made
jokes about tear gassing protesters" and were “pushing people to the
ground and then laughing about it, even as blood oozed from the ears of
someone they pushed.” In another instance, she described an agent saying
”No one can hear you" after tackling and arresting a reporter as he
yelled that he was a journalist and sought out his colleague.
Judge criticizes Border Patrol leader
The judge also accused Greg Bovino, the senior U.S. Border Patrol
official leading the immigration crackdown in the Chicago area, of being
“evasive” and “outright lying” during his testimony, including by lying
about being hit in the head with a rock during a protest in the
predominantly Mexican American Chicago neighborhood of Little Village.
Bovino repeatedly went back-and-forth between claiming he was hit with a
rock before or after he fired tear gas at the crowd, according to the
opinion.
In one instance after another, Ellis used footage to dispute claims by
agents, including that Bovino saw Latin Kings gang members take weapons
out of their car in Little Village and that a protester threw a bicycle
at an agent. Body-worn camera footage also revealed that an agent used
the AI tool ChatGPT to write the narrative for a report based off just a
“brief sentence about an encounter and several images," according to the
opinion.
Taken together, Ellis said the documentation showed the federal
government's narrative was “simply not credible," saying her review of
the body camera footage supported plaintiffs' allegations by
“undermining all of Defendants’ claims.”
Pride in Chicago
Steeped in pride for Chicago, the judge's opinion painted an image of
Chicago far different from the portrayal of federal attorneys, who
characterized it as a place “ransacked by rioters." Instead, Ellis
proudly described neighbors showing up for one another by “standing on
the sidewalk to document law enforcement activities and protest against
immigration enforcement activities they believe to be unjust, or simply
praying the Rosary to provide comfort and bear witness to those detained
at the Broadview detention facility who are facing fear and
uncertainty.”
“This description of rapid response network members, neighborhood moms
and dads, Chicago Bears fans, people dressed in Halloween costumes, and
the lawyer who lives on the block as professional agitators undermines
the agents’ credibility," she wrote.
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