Federal agents ended up tear-gassing Chicago police officers on Tuesday while trying to perform basic crowd control, violating a temporary restraining order banning the very use of tear gas in the process.
A crowd of community members and protesters formed near 105th and Avenue N, where Border Patrol struck a civilian car while trying to arrest the people inside. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said that the crowd “eventually turned hostile,” forcing them to use “crowd control measures” like tear gas. CPD officers present were caught in the crossfire.
About 13 officers were exposed to the tear gas, Chicago police said. This is the second time CPD officers have been gassed by ICE while trying to work with them.
The federal agents are also blatantly ignoring the temporary restraining order sent down from Judge Sara Ellis on October 9, after journalists and community organizations brought the issue forward. Ellis explicitly banned the agents from “using riot control weapons,” “firing [tear gas] canisters,” “using force, such as pulling or shoving a person to the ground, tackling, or body slamming an individual,” “striking any person with a vehicle,” and more abuses of power. The order applies to all agents from the Department of Homeland Security, including ICE and Border Patrol, and was supposed to last until October 23. The federal agents violated it almost immediately.
Civilians have continued to be terrorized by these riot tactics.
“The eyes and the nose … it burned,” community member Pascal Manuel told NBC 5 Investigates.
“This type of escalation is going to cause harm—it’s not the people of Chicago. It is the federal agents,” said Beatriz Ponce De Leon, Chicago’s deputy mayor of immigration and refugee rights.
There is currently no update on the status of the temporary restraining order.
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