Appeals court blocks order requiring CBP's Greg Bovino to meet with judge daily on Chicago immigration crackdown
An appeals court has temporarily paused a federal judge's order requiring U.S. Customs and Border Patrol commander-at-large Greg Bovino to appear in court daily and give updates on immigration enforcement activity in Chicago under the Trump administration's "Operation Midway Blitz."
The Department of Justice on Wednesday appealed U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis' order, which mandated Bovino check in with her around 6 p.m. daily to ensure compliance with a temporary restraining order that restricted federal agents' use of force in crowd-control tactics.
The DOJ filed the appeal just hours before Bovino was slated to check in with the court for the first time. In its petition to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, the DOJ accused the district court of exceeding its powers and asked the appeals court to immediately pause the order and consider revoking it.
Ellis' order, issued on Tuesday, "only underscores the extent to which the district court has exceeded its judicial role by arrogating to itself the role of supervising and micromanaging the day-to-day operations of an Executive Branch law-enforcement agency,” the DOJ wrote.
Ellis had ordered Bovino to appear in her courtroom daily after he took the witness stand on Tuesday in connection with a lawsuit she is presiding over regarding immigration enforcement tactics in Chicago.
Ellis scheduled Tuesday's hearing to consider a request by the plaintiffs to ban federal agents from using tear gas in Chicago after they raised allegations of multiple violations of a temporary restraining order the judge issued this month. The TRO includes restrictions on the use of force on journalists and demonstrators and the use of riot control measures like tear gas.
In addition to requiring daily reports from Bovino, the judge on Tuesday ordered the government to produce by Friday all use-of-force reports and corresponding body camera video going back to the onset of the operation on Sept. 2.
The appeals court granted the government's motion for a stay on that order "only to the extent it required Gregory Bovino to appear in court, in person, each weekday at 5:45 PM."
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
