International

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Gregory Bovino arrives outside federal court in Chicago, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025.

AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

Judge orders daily meetings with Border Patrol official Bovino on Chicago immigration crackdown

By The Canadian Press

Published 10:36 PDT, Tue October 28, 2025

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CHICAGO (AP) — A judge on Tuesday ordered a senior U.S. Border Patrol official to meet her each evening to discuss the government's immigration crackdown in the Chicago area, an extraordinary step following weeks of street confrontations, tear gas volleys and complaints of excessive force.

“Yes, ma’am,” responded Greg Bovino, who has become the face of the Trump administration’s immigration sweeps in America’s big cities.

Bovino got an earful from U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis as soon as he settled into the witness chair in his green uniform.

Ellis quickly expressed concerns about video and other images from an illegal immigration drive that has produced more than 1,800 arrests since September. The hearing is the latest in a lawsuit by news outlets and protesters who say agents have used too much force, including tear gas, during demonstrations.

“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,” the judge said.

Bovino is chief of the Border Patrol sector in El Centro, California, one of nine sectors on the Mexican border.

The judge wants him to meet her in person daily at 6 p.m. “to hear about how the day went.”

Ellis zeroed in on reports that Border Patrol agents disrupted a children’s Halloween parade with tear gas on the city’s Northwest Side over the weekend. Neighbors had gathered in the street as someone was arrested.

“Those kids were tear-gassed on their way to celebrate Halloween in their local school parking lot,” Ellis said. “And I can only imagine how terrified they were. These kids, you can imagine, their sense of safety was shattered on Saturday. And it’s going to take a long time for that to come back, if ever.”

Ellis ordered Bovino to produce all use-of-force reports since Sept. 2 from agents involved in Operation Midway Blitz. She first demanded them by the end of Tuesday, but Bovino said it would be “physically impossible” because of the “sheer amount.”

The judge has already ordered agents 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.

Ellis told Bovino, “You could probably get one easily,” referring to a camera. She set a Friday deadline for him to get a device and complete training.

She 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.

Attorneys representing a coalition of news outlets and protesters claim Bovino violated the order in Little Village, and they filed an image of him allegedly “throwing tear gas into a crowd without justification.”

Over the weekend, masked agents and unmarked SUVs were seen in Chicago’s wealthier, predominantly white North Side neighborhoods, where video showed chemical agents deployed on a residential street. Agents have been recorded using tear gas several times over the past few weeks.

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.

– Christine Fernando, The Associated Press