A federal judge has ordered the top official at U.S. Customs and Border Protection to appear in court to respond to a Chicago lawsuit over immigration enforcement, ABC News reported. District Judge Sara Ellis has called CBP field operations leader Greg Bovino to attend a status hearing on Tuesday over the so-called "Operation Midway Blitz" in the Windy City.
As President Donald Trump sends federal agents to America's cities to clean up the rampant illegal immigration and crime problem, leftists are at the ready to make sure that doesn't happen. This has taken the form of punishing agents through legal action.
Bovino is expected to answer a lawsuit brought by demonstrators and journalists who allege that he used tear gas "without justification." This standard was set by Ellis, who previously issued a temporary restraining order preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and CBP agents from using non-lethal action without proper "warning and justification."
However, Bovino's defenders point out that rioters were throwing rocks and other projectiles at Border Patrol agents as they were conducting official immigration business in the Little Village section of the city. Bovino was even struck in the head by one, though he did not sustain serious injury.
Most sane people would contend that anyone under attack from a crowd has more than enough justification to deploy tear gas. Indeed, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said as much, noting that they had also been warned before the detonation.
"Border Patrol agents repeated multiple warnings to back up and that chemical agents would be deployed if warnings were ignored. Riot control measures were deployed, including by Chief Bovino, and arrests were made," McLaughlin said in a statement on Friday.
"Agents properly used their training. The use of chemical munitions was conducted in full accordance with CBP policy and was necessary to ensure the safety of both law enforcement and the public," McLaughlin added.
This has become necessary after a massive increase in attacks against ICE agents, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in August, according to Fox News. Noem noted that they "are now facing a 1000% increase in assaults against them as they risk their lives to arrest the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens."
Meanwhile, Noem charged that these "acts of violence are fueled by sanctuary politicians' rhetoric vilifying our law enforcement," which has come mainly from Democratic politicians and pundits. "We will not and have not let this violence stop us or slow us down. Every day our law enforcement continues to enforce the law and arrest the most depraved criminals, including pedophiles, terrorists, murderers, gang members, and sexual predators," Noem said in a social media post.
While Bovino and other federal agents are literally dodging projectiles, politicians like Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker are launching political attacks against the agents. On Thursday, the governor signed an Executive Order, using his newly minted Illinois Accountability Commission to track alleged civil rights abuses by federal enforcement agents.
Pritzker said that the "unlawful attacks" in Operation Midway Blitz have prompted this move. "They are attacking people on the ground — ICE, CBP — going after people just because they're Brown or Black," Pritzker claimed without evidence.
"No one above them is holding them responsible. Greg Bovino, who is running the operation in Chicago, isn't holding them accountable," Pritzker claimed, calling out Bovino by name.
"No one is. So we're going to have to keep a record," he added.
Dragging federal agents into court because they defended themselves against the hordes of rioters is unconscionable. This is an attack on the rule of law by the people who run these places that are overrun with criminals and individuals who are in the country illegally.
