Days before he was ordered to appear in front of a US district judge to answer pressing questions about the immigration crackdown in Chicago, the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement field director is heading out of town and two other officials are set to testify Monday instead.
The judge at the center of the discussion said she didn’t want to meddle in who testifies as long as they answer her questions about what’s been going on during clashes between federal agents and demonstrators in Chicago, the latest target of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Last week, the judge expanded her restraining order restricting federal tactics against ICE protesters by instructing agents to turn on body-worn cameras while encountering demonstrators.
Tensions continue to flare as federal agents have been deployed across the city in recent weeks for what the Trump administration calls “Operation Midway Blitz,” an ICE effort that has resulted in more than 1,000 arrests of migrants across Illinois between September 8 and October 3, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Here’s what we know about Monday’s hearing.
US District Judge Sara Ellis early this month issued a sweeping order restricting agents’ crowd control tactics, use of force and actions against journalists documenting protests in Chicago. During last week’s hearing, she said she had concerns about her order being followed.
Ellis – an Obama appointee – indicated recent news reports had led her to believe the Trump administration may not have been following her instructions.
“I’m not happy,” Ellis said in a stern tone. “I’m really not happy.”
“At least from what I’m seeing, I’m having serious concerns that my order’s being followed,” she said from the bench.
Ellis eventually expanded her restraining order, requiring all federal agents involved in the immigration crackdown in Chicago who have body cameras and are trained in using them to have them on when encountering protesters.
“That’s the nice thing about body cameras is that they pick up events before the triggering event happens,” Ellis said.
The judge originally required all agents to wear cameras. But her order doesn’t require them if they’re undercover, not in uniform or exempt by Customs and Border Protection, ICE or DHS policy.
Previously, Ellis demanded that ICE Field Director Russell Hott appear in court on Monday, “to explain to me why I am seeing images of tear gas being deployed and reading reports that there were no warnings given before it was deployed out in the field.”
But Hott has since planned his return to the Washington, DC, area to continue his permanent post as field operations director in the nation’s capital, said Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs.
“He served in Chicago as interim FOD and this is (a) planned return to his permanent office in DC,” McLaughlin said in a statement to CNN.
In a filing Friday, the Department of Justice offered to have CBP Deputy Incident Commander Kyle C. Harvick and ICE Deputy Field Office Director Shawn Byers testify instead.
Federal officials claimed Harvick would be a more appropriate person to testify after DHS determined it was “mostly, if not entirely” Border Patrol personnel who were involved in recent tear gas incidents, CNN affiliate WTTW reported.
During a telephone hearing that day, the judge said she had no desire to “micromanage” who the government presents at Monday’s hearing but that she’s been “very clear” she wants to hear from someone who can fill her in on “what’s been going on over the last week,” the station reported.
“Whoever comes has to be able to answer these questions,” Ellis said, according to WTTW. “And if the government chooses … to bring someone in and that person’s answers to me are ‘I don’t know’ and ‘It’s not my responsibility’ … then we’ll come in Tuesday with a different person until I get the answers I want.”
The two were ordered to appear in person to provide testimony at 10:30 a.m. local time Monday.
This weekend marked the first since a fence was ordered removed at the Broadview ICE facility, the center of anti-ICE protests in the Chicago area.
The ICE building outside Chicago has been the site of confrontations as protesters have come out to decry immigration arrests.
Over 100 protesters gathered outside the facility Friday morning, with Broadview police officers, Cook County sheriff’s deputies and Illinois State Police gathered to keep demonstrators in the area designated for them. The protest, though loud, has remained calm. As of 5 p.m. CT, 15 arrests had been made, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office said.
At least 15 people were arrested on Saturday in connection with another demonstration at the facility, the agency said.
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