Border Patrol official Bovino due in court to answer questions about Chicago immigration crackdown

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CHICAGO (AP) — A senior Border Patrol official who has become the face of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns in America's big cities appeared in court Tuesday to take questions about the Chicago-area enforcement operation, which has produced more than 1,800 arrests and complaints of excessive force.

The hearing comes after a judge earlier this month ordered uniformed immigration agents to wear body cameras, the latest in a lawsuit brought by news outlets and protesters who say federal agents used excessive force, including tear gas, during protests against immigration operations.

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis opened her questioning of Greg Bovino by reading aloud the oaths they took when they began their jobs.

“My role is not to tell you that you can or cannot enforce validly passed laws by Congress. … My role is simply to see that in the enforcement of those laws, the agents are acting in a manner that is consistent with the Constitution,” Ellis said.

Bovino is chief of the Border Patrol sector in El Centro, California, one of nine sectors on the Mexican border. He took the stand Tuesday wearing his army green Border Patrol uniform. He's been accused of throwing tear gas canisters at protesters.

Ellis wants to hear about agents’ use of force in Little Village, Chicago's Mexican enclave. During an enforcement operation there and in an adjacent suburb, Cicero, at least eight people, including four U.S. citizens, were detained before protesters gathered at the scene, officials said.

The judge has ordered agents in the Chicago area to wear badges, and she’s banned them from using certain riot control techniques against peaceful protesters and journalists. She subsequently required body cameras after the use of tear gas during the government’s Operation Midway Blitz raised concerns that agents were not following her initial order.

Attorneys representing a coalition of news outlets and protesters claim Bovino violated the order in Little Village and filed a still image of video footage where he was allegedly “throwing tear gas into a crowd without justification.”

Bovino also led the immigration operation in Los Angeles in recent months, leading to thousands of arrests. Agents smashed car windows, blew open a door to a house and patrolled MacArthur Park on horseback. In Chicago, similar Border Patrol operations have led to viral footage of tense confrontations with protesters.

Over the weekend, masked federal agents and unmarked SUVs were spotted on Chicago’s wealthier, predominantly white North Side neighborhoods of Lakeview and Lincoln Park, where footage showed chemical agents deployed on a residential street. Agents have been seen and videotaped using tear gas in residential streets several times over the past few weeks.

At a previous hearing, Kyle Harvick, deputy incident commander with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said there are about 200 Border Patrol employees in the Chicago area, and those who are part of Operation Midway Blitz have cameras.