A federal judge slammed Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino Tuesday for agents terrorizing children at a Halloween parade over the weekend, according to Jon Seidal of the Chicago Sun Times.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis was kind enough to walk Bovino through each point of the temporary restraining order he’d allegedly violated. Ellis issued the order restricting federal officials’ use of force against protesters and journalists earlier this month. Bovino was summoned to federal court last week after he was recorded throwing what appeared to be tear gas canisters at protesters.
Referring to videos of multiple incidents with federal law enforcement in Chicago, the judge said that Border Patrol’s use of force did not appear to be justified. “It is difficult for me to see that the force being used is necessary to stop an immediate and serious threat of physical harm to a person,” she said.
This was particularly clear in an incident Saturday, when federal agents tear-gassed multiple costumed school-age children en route to a Halloween parade, Ellis said.
“These kids, you can imagine, their sense of safety was shattered on Saturday. And it’s gonna take a long time for that to come back, if ever,” Ellis said.
It seemed that Ellis tried to give the Border Patrol chief the benefit of the doubt when discussing the multiple blatant violations of her order, claiming that the order was either unclear, not read, or read and ignored. “Given the fact that you and I took essentially the same oath, I know Option 3 is not something—that just wouldn’t happen,” she said.
Ellis spoke directly to Bovino about his own alleged infraction, insisting that he needed to give a clear warning before deploying crowd control tactics. “Again, a warning has to be, ‘I’m going to deploy tear gas, if you do not do’ whatever it is,” she explained.
Bovino refused to answer affirmatively when asked whether he believed the allegations against other agents suggested that they’d violated Ellis’s TRO. “Well, your honor, I believe that each situation is dependent on the situation. And, you know, I’d like to know more about what happened,” Bovino replied.
Ellis asked Bovino to ensure that officers display identifiers in one of two “conspicuous” locations on their person and that all officers, including Bovino, wear a body camera. She also gave Bovino until Friday to procure all use-of-force reports since the beginning of September. Ellis asked that he return to meet her every day until a preliminary injunction hearing next month.
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