Judge issues injunction on DHS use of force
Agents can only use force under the ‘immediate threat of physical harm’
What happened
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis Thursday issued a heavily anticipated injunction against the Department of Homeland Security’s use of force during Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago. Her ruling bars DHS agents from using tear gas and other crowd-control weapons unless doing so would be “necessary” to stop the “immediate threat of physical harm.”
Who said what
The injunction refines and “extends” the temporary restrictions Ellis put in place against DHS last month, said The New York Times. Among other measures, yesterday’s ruling requires agents to “wear body cameras” and “give at least two audible warnings” before using crowd-control weaponry. “I see little reason for the use of force that the federal agents are currently using,” said Ellis. It “shocks the conscience.”
Delivering her ruling, the judge listed a “litany of incidents” in which civilians in Chicago were “tear-gassed ‘indiscriminately’, beaten and tackled by agents and struck in the face with pepper-spray balls,” said the Chicago Tribune. Ellis also accused Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino of giving evidence in his deposition testimony that she said was “simply not credible.” Justice Department attorneys had attempted to frame the case as “allowing law enforcement to do its job in the face of agitators who conflate constitutional rights with violent action,” said the Tribune.
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What next?
Speaking from the bench before issuing her order, Ellis said that DHS’s illegal conduct showed “no signs of stopping.” The Trump administration was expected to appeal the ruling.
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