A federal judge has ordered immigration officers in Chicago to wear body cameras after reports surfaced of agents deploying tear gas, pepper balls, and smoke grenades against protesters and police. US District Judge Sara Ellis already had told agents to wear badges and prohibited the use of riot control tactics without prior warning, the Guardian reports. The judge said Thursday that the body cameras will confirm whether agents are giving the two warnings mandated, per WLS. She expressed frustration with the government, criticizing the Department of Homeland Security for violating her previous order.
"I live in Chicago if folks haven't noticed," Ellis said on Thursday. "And I'm not blind, right?" The judge said she called the hearing Thursday after coverage of a 19-year-old citizen chased and tackled by immigration officers. "I'm getting images and seeing images on the news, in the paper, reading reports where I'm having concerns about my order being followed," she said in court. Chicago-area residents have responded to the Trump administration's surge in immigration enforcement in the area by organizing to prevent arrests in their neighborhoods.
DHS has described these community actions as rioting and maintains that its response is constitutional and necessary to protect officers, per the Guardian. Ellis summoned Russell Hott of ICE's Chicago field office to her courtroom next week, per the New York Times. "The field director is going to explain to me why I am seeing images of tear gas being deployed and reading reports that there were no warnings given out in the field," she said.
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