Last week, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis ordered agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol to wear body cameras and have them on when conducting operations. The judge also held a hearing today regarding the use of tear gas when dealing with the public and media.
The judge said she was a “little startled” when watching footage last week of an encounter between agents and the public on Chicago’s southwest side.
Today, Kyle Harvick, deputy incident commander with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told the judge each Border Patrol agent who is part of Operation Midway Blitz “now has a body-worn camera.”
Harvick also defended the use of tear gas during his testimony. He said the residents who gathered on the scene on October 12th would not allow the agents to leave.
“The longer we loiter on a scene and subjects come, the situation gets more and more dangerous,” Harvick said. “And that’s a safety concern, not just for my brother Border Patrol agents but the detainee and other people who come out to see what’s going on.”
Judge Ellis did not rule on whether or not agents are following her ruling which required two verbal warnings to be issued prior to the release of gas. Instead, she said she needed more information to make a determination and ordered ordered Gregory Bovino, commander-at-large of the U.S. Border Patrol, Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Daniel Parra and Russell Hott, the former field director for ICE operations in Chicago to come to testify.
Ellis also wants detailed records regarding the use of force by ICE and CBP agents and preserve any video of confrontations and apprehensions.
Harvic and and Shawn Byers, deputy field office director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement who also testified today were asked about excessive use of force. Harvic testified that he knew of no Border Patrol agents who have been disciplined. Byers said no ICE agents had been disciplined for violating use-of-force policies outside the Broadview facility.
The next hearing on the matter is scheduled to be held on November 5th.