Chicago Court Hears Allegations of Immigration-Agent Excessive Force

(CHICAGO, ILLINOIS) A Chicago court hearing is set to examine allegations of excessive force by federal immigration agents on November 5, 2025, as U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis weighs new restrictions on government operations after weeks of clashes, arrests, and mounting legal challenges in the city. The Chicago court hearing comes amid sworn statements describing tear gas, flash-bang grenades, and injuries to protesters and bystanders, and could determine how federal teams conduct immigration enforcement and crowd control across the region.

Judge Ellis, who is presiding over the civil case brought by news organizations and protesters, signaled in recent days that she may expand her orders on federal conduct after episodes that plaintiffs say violated constitutional rights and targeted nonviolent demonstrations. In a rebuke that set the tone for today’s proceeding, she said she was

“deeply concerned with various incidents involving federal agents in the Chicago area,”
according to filings and a court transcript. Her courtroom will review video depositions and may hear live testimony from people who say they were injured as agents moved in during protests and enforcement actions.

Court records show that Senior Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino was questioned under oath about an operation in Little Village, a predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood, where he acknowledged crowd-control measures and injuries during a chaotic scene. He admitted to

“tossing tear gas and being hit by a rock in the predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood of Little Village last month.”
Bovino also testified that he has
“instructed his officers to arrest protesters who make hyperbolic comments in the heat of political demonstrations,”
a line that has drawn sharp scrutiny from civil rights lawyers who argue that standard would sweep in constitutionally protected speech. Portions of Bovino’s testimony are expected to be played in court today.

The hearing will also revisit a separate account from Commander Kyle Harvick, who described an incident in Albany Park in which agents

“used one can of tear gas to disperse a crowd that had gathered.”
Lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that tear gas deployment, especially around nonviolent gatherings, violated Judge Ellis’s prior orders restricting chemical agents. Government attorneys have said agents faced projectiles and volatile situations, pointing to moments like the Little Village confrontation, but the judge has warned officials that her directives must be followed regardless of crowd tensions.

The case stems from a broader federal crackdown known as Operation Midway Blitz, a push that escalated enforcement activity around Chicago starting in September. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the initiative resulted in
“800 people arrested during the operation alone,”
with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arresting
“over 500 more people in Illinois than in all of 2024”
in the first seven months of 2025. Those figures, cited in court filings, have fed concerns among local officials and community groups that immigration teams have relied on aggressive tactics in residential neighborhoods and near public demonstrations, sometimes sweeping in people who were not targets of specific operations.

Judge Ellis already has imposed several limits on federal conduct. She has ordered immigration agents to wear badges that identify them by name or number, banned the use of tear gas against peaceful protesters and journalists, and required that agents use body cameras during law enforcement activities. Today’s Chicago court hearing is expected to determine whether those restraints will be extended through a preliminary injunction while the lawsuit continues. Attorneys on both sides said the judge could issue a ruling later in the day, in a decision that will shape how federal immigration teams operate at protests and during raids in the Chicago area.

Alongside the focus on street operations and the use of chemical agents, the court is also expected to hear from individuals who say they were injured in the clashes. According to filings, lawyers may call a pastor who was

“hit in the head by a container containing a chemical agent while praying outside a federal immigration facility in Broadview.”
They may also call a protester who alleges she was
“hit by a flash-bang grenade that caused temporary hearing loss.”
Local officials detained outside the facility are also listed as potential witnesses. Plaintiffs say the testimony will show a pattern of heavy-handed tactics that violated both court orders and the First and Fourth Amendments.

The allegations of excessive force by immigration agents have become a flashpoint in a city with a large immigrant population and active local organizing. Video and affidavits describe rows of agents moving into residential blocks, choppers overhead during pre-dawn raids, and panicked families as officers pushed through crowds. In Little Village, court records say tear gas was deployed during enforcement actions while agents reported being struck by rocks. The judge has emphasized that her previous directives limiting tear gas were clear and that any breach could trigger sanctions.

Legal filings also drew the court’s attention to treatment inside a Chicago-area immigration detention facility, where detainees described

“overflowing toilets, crowded cells, no beds and water that ‘tasted like sewer.'”
In a related proceeding, Judge Robert Gettleman called these conditions
“unnecessarily cruel”
and set a separate emergency hearing to consider a temporary restraining order aimed at improving sanitation, space, and access to basic necessities. That ruling is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. local time, and could force immediate changes on contractors and federal authorities managing the facility.

The government has not released a comprehensive public account of each use-of-force incident in Chicago, but officials have pointed to the intensity of some protests and the risks agents faced during enforcement operations. In Bovino’s deposition, the acknowledgment of tear gas and injuries in Little Village has become central to the plaintiffs’ claim that officers escalated too quickly and failed to distinguish between people posing a threat and bystanders. Plaintiffs say Harvick’s account of a single tear gas canister in Albany Park still violates Judge Ellis’s standing order protecting peaceful protesters and journalists, arguing that the order left little room for chemical agents except in clear cases of violence.

Judge Ellis’s restrictions on chemical agents, badges, and body cameras are intended to set standards while the court reviews evidence and determines whether federal teams complied with the Constitution and court directives. Civil rights attorneys say the body camera requirement, in particular, will help establish who gave orders to use tear gas or flash-bang devices and under what circumstances, especially when protests intersect with immigration raids. Federal agencies, which have begun rolling out body-worn cameras for some units, say they are complying with evolving policies and court instructions. DHS policy documents on enforcement and accountability are posted on the Department of Homeland Security website.

Today’s proceeding is expected to unfold over several hours, with video from Bovino’s deposition playing alongside possible live testimony. Lawyers plan to walk the court through incident timelines, communications among field leaders, and medical records for those who say they were injured by tear gas canisters and flash-bang explosions. Attorneys for the plaintiffs want the court to underscore that agents cannot arrest demonstrators for words alone, invoking Bovino’s line that he has

“instructed his officers to arrest protesters who make hyperbolic comments in the heat of political demonstrations.”
They argue that standard criminalizes speech and opens the door to sweeping arrests at any march or vigil that includes heated rhetoric.

Government lawyers have suggested in filings that agents were responding to unsafe conditions and threats to officer safety, including thrown objects. Bovino’s admission that he was

“hit by a rock”
in Little Village is part of that narrative, though the plaintiffs have countered that isolated projectiles cannot justify blanket use of chemical agents on a crowd that included families, journalists, and clergy. Harvick’s description of deploying
“one can of tear gas to disperse a crowd that had gathered”
will likely be tested against video and bystander accounts as the judge assesses necessity, proportionality, and compliance with prior orders.

The broader political debate over immigration enforcement in Chicago has sharpened since the launch of Operation Midway Blitz. DHS has highlighted the arrest numbers and says it is focusing on public safety threats, while community leaders accuse the government of sowing fear in neighborhoods with large numbers of mixed-status families. Court filings describe residents who shut windows against the smell of irritants and kept children home from school after nighttime raids. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say these are not collateral effects of routine enforcement, but the results of specific choices by field leaders that the court can curb through an injunction.

As the day’s hearings continue, Judge Ellis’s ruling on a preliminary injunction could arrive as early as this evening, setting immediate guardrails for immigration agents during protests and enforcement actions. Any order is expected to address compliance mechanisms, including continued wearing of badges, strict limits on tear gas near journalists and peaceful demonstrators, and the requirement that agents record encounters with body cameras. The decision will land as Judge Gettleman weighs emergency relief over conditions inside the detention facility, where the descriptions of

“overflowing toilets, crowded cells, no beds and water that ‘tasted like sewer'”
prompted his assessment that the situation was
“unnecessarily cruel.”

For Chicago residents, the outcome will determine what protections apply the next time agents move into a neighborhood or protesters gather outside an immigration facility. For federal teams, it will shape training, supervision, and the future use of chemical agents in crowded urban spaces. With two federal judges focused on conduct both on the streets and inside detention, today’s Chicago court hearing carries consequences beyond city limits, testing how far courts will go to restrain tactics that plaintiffs say cross the line into excessive force while the government insists they are necessary to carry out the law.