The Trump administration is openly flouting a federal judge’s order by refusing to produce drone footage of the president’s senior immigration enforcer hurling tear-gas into a crowd.
On Oct. 23, Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino, 55, was filmed launching a canister towards a crowd of protesters, in the Little Village area of Chicago, Illinois, which led him to be hauled into court to explain his actions.
In a social media post afterwards, the department described the incident as a “riot,” using edited body-cam and drone footage to claim a rock had “struck Chief Greg Bovino in the head,” and that his team had been surrounded by a “hostile mob,” requiring the deployment of gas.
In an earlier hearing, Obama-appointed Judge Sara L. Ellis had granted expedited discovery and ordered DHS to produce “both [body worn camera] and drone footage” tied to the incidents by last Wednesday, Oct. 29.
But in an emergency motion filed Tuesday, a coalition of journalists and civil-rights groups say DHS “refuse[s] to comply,” specifically stonewalling the drone video and asked the U.S. District Judge, also 55, to force DHS to hand it over—today.
“Defendants have simply refused to produce drone footage… despite the Court ordering its production,” the motion states, adding that DHS made that decision without seeking relief or reconsideration.
Plaintiffs say DHS can’t cherry-pick and publish its favored clips while burying the raw feeds a judge already ordered produced regarding incidents the plaintiffs say demand verification from the full, unedited vantage.
The motion comes as DHS and its communications team faces almost daily allegations that it is putting out deliberately misleading statements and social media posts to defend the increasingly heavy-handed tactics employed across the U.S. by its Border Patrol and ICE agents.
The Little Village incident led Ellis to demand Bovino attend court last week to address concerns that he and his agents had been subjecting residents and reporters to tear gas without adequate warnings, and with children nearby.
Ellis demanded Border Patrol make available to the court body-cam footage and force reports during Midway Blitz, as well as a daily check-in order for Bovino. However, that was paused upon appeal from the government.
Yet Border Patrol aggression has continued, with numerous complaints made against Bovino’s “Green Army” in Illinois—from pepper-balling bystanders near homes and schools to clashes that have left civilians, including U.S. citizens, injured.
After a kids’ parade in Old Irving Park had to be cancelled due to an Oct. 25 clash that reportedly saw a 67-year-old U.S. citizen suffer broken ribs and internal bleeding, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defied an appeal from Ilinois Gov. JB Pritzker to curtail its operations over Halloween weekend.
After yet another violent arrest last Friday, in which a U.S. citizen was punched repeatedly in the head, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, 48, blasted DHS’ account of what went on, calling the agency “a bunch of liars” and alleging agents “forced” a car crash that led up to it.
DHS had claimed a red sedan “aggressively tailgated” Border Patrol and that a “hostile crowd” formed after a U-turn, which Biss rejected.
DHS and senior officials then claimed the man had grabbed an agent’s genitals, which they said justified “defensive strikes.” But footage from several angles shows the man’s hands nowhere near the agent’s groin as the blows land.
Other clips showed an agent pointing a firearm at a woman and pepper spray used on bystanders who were filming, with paramedics later treating several people for exposure.
The Daily Beast has reached out to DHS for comment.
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