By CHRISTINE FERNANDO, Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — Federal officials are due in court Monday to take questions about the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the Chicago area, which has produced more than 1,000 arrests as well as complaints that agents are increasingly using combative tactics.
The hearing comes a few days after a judge ordered uniformed immigration agents to wear body cameras — if the devices are available — and turn them on when engaged in arrests, frisks and building searches or when being deployed to protests.
The bodycam decision is the latest step in a lawsuit by news organizations and community groups witnessing protests and arrests in the Chicago area. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis initially said agents must wear badges, and she banned them from using certain riot control techniques against peaceful protesters and journalists.
Ellis last Thursday said she was a “little startled” after seeing TV images of street confrontations that involved tear gas and other tactics during the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz.
Government attorneys said two witnesses would appear in court Monday: Kyle Harvick, deputy incident commander with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Shawn Byers, deputy field office director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
News media and community groups submitted five pages of proposed topics for the hearing. They cover a variety of subjects, from the number of agents in the Chicago area to questions about training, tactics and justification for widespread immigration sweeps. It’s not clear what the judge will allow to be asked.
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The government has bristled at any suggestion of wrongdoing.
“The full context is that law enforcement officers in Chicago have been, and continue to be, attacked, injured, and impeded from enforcing federal law,” U.S. Justice Department attorney Samuel Holt said in a court filing Friday.
Separately, President Donald Trump’s administration has been barred from deploying the National Guard to assist immigration officers in Illinois. That order expires Thursday unless extended. The administration also has asked the Supreme Court to allow the deployment.
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