Chicago judge tells Trump Midway Blitz leaders she's 'not afraid' to enforce her orders Michael Loria, USA TODAY October 29, 2025 at 1:50 AM 24 CHICAGO – A federal judge in Chicago had a clear message to the Trump administration: She will enforce her court orders limiting the type of force agents ca...
- - Chicago judge tells Trump Midway Blitz leaders she's 'not afraid' to enforce her orders
Michael Loria, USA TODAY October 29, 2025 at 1:50 AM
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CHICAGO – A federal judge in Chicago had a clear message to the Trump administration: She will enforce her court orders limiting the type of force agents can use in the city.
U.S. District Court Judge Sara L. Ellis on Oct. 28 ordered Homeland Security officials to turn over all use of force reports and related body-worn camera footage that the agency has in connection with the Chicago-area crackdown; provide information on anyone arrested in connection with protesting immigration enforcement; and have the Border Patrol's top leader in the area deliver daily reports in person at the courthouse as well as begin using a body-worn camera.
Ellis – who issued orders limiting the kinds of tactics immigration enforcement agents can use amid the White House's crackdown in Illinois – hauled the administration's top enforcement official Customs and Border Patrol Commander at-Large Gregory Bovino into court to ensure he understood the limits she had put upon him and his agents.
The judge questioned Bovino, President Donald Trump's face of the Operation Midway Blitz, in response to court filings contending he and his agents have violated orders she gave limiting how agents use chemical weapons and physical force.
Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino leaves the federal courthouse in downtown Chicago on Oct. 28. Bovino, the face of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement crackdown in the area, was ordered into court to testify about his agents' tactics.
Ellis issued a temporary restraining order in connection with a lawsuit brought by journalists, clergy and protesters that agents were using force unnecessarily. Ellis' orders compel agents to give warnings before using chemical agents such as pepper spray and limit using physical force to instances where agents face immediate harm.
Since Ellis first issued the restraining order on Oct. 9, lawyers for the journalists have filed multiple notices that federal agents have violated Ellis' orders. Most recently, lawyers for the journalists, clergy and protesters filed notice that Bovino violated her orders in tear-gassing protesters in a raid on a Chicago Mexican neighborhood.
"I'm not afraid to enforce this TRO," Ellis told lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security about 90 minutes after Bovino took the stand. "I have serious questions about whether it's being followed so under my inherent power to enforce the TRO, this is what I'm requiring."
Lawyers for Homeland Security objected to Ellis' new orders but the judge said she would not change them and would issue them in writing shortly.
At the end of his testimony, Bovino told Ellis, "we will abide by the TRO and all the accoutrements contained therein."
Chicago faces ICE crackdowns.
" style=padding-bottom:56%>Stickers on the check-in counter of a Latin social dancing event. The People's Social on Oct. 17 donated proceeds to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights as Chicago faces ICE crackdowns.
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Chicago faces ICE crackdowns.
" style=padding-bottom:56%>The People's Social on Oct. 17 donated proceeds to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights as Chicago faces ICE crackdowns.
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1 / 14Chicago Latin dancers spin on in face of immigration efforts. See photos.
Stickers on the check-in counter of a Latin social dancing event. The People's Social on Oct. 17 donated proceeds to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights as Chicago faces ICE crackdowns.
The hearing at the Dirksen federal courthouse in Chicago comes as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs whether to let the White House deploy the military to the city. The Trump administration says troops are needed to carry out an immigration enforcement crackdown aimed at the "worst of the worst" criminal immigrants.
Local Democratic officials view the blitz as a power grab by the Republican White House and have taken issue with federal agents using chemical weapons on residential streets during enforcement raids.
On Oct. 27, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs said over "3,000 illegal aliens, including rapists, murderers, and gang members" have been arrested in connection with the blitz. USA TODAY has not been able to independently verify the criminal background or immigration status of detainees.
Homeland Security officials did not immediately respond to further request for comment on Ellis' new orders.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Commander at-Large Gregory Bovino, speaks with federal agents in the Cicero neighborhood during an immigration raid on Oct. 22, 2025. Bovino is seen as leading President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration enforcement in Chicago.Who is Gregory Bovino, the man behind Trump's Midway Blitz?
Border Patrol chief Bovino arrived in Chicago as part of Operation Midway Blitz on Sept. 16, he announced on X, and he quickly became the face of the operation.
He made waves in the city after he and heavily armed agents were seen aboard boats on the Chicago River. Bovino also drew criticism from locals after telling a local radio reporter that immigration agents were arresting people at least partly based on "how they look." Most notably he participated in a high-profile raid that saw agents rappelling from Black Hawk helicopters to storm a South Side apartment building.
The longtime Border Patrol veteran boasts of his agents' successes often on social media. About an hour before appearing in court, he posted on X a picture of a man with a bloodied face arrested in connection with the blitz.
"Another drug dealer and Latin King gang member dethroned!" Bovino wrote. "This is a prime example of how our enforcement operations are out here arresting criminal illegal aliens who threaten our American way of life.
Bovino appeared in court wearing his green Border Patrol uniform. He speaks with a distinct Carolina accent.
The Homeland Security official is also connected to another case playing out in federal court in Chicago. Prosecutors say Juan Espinoza Martinez, a 37-year-old Chicago man, is accused of offering $10,000 for Bovino's killing. Espinoza Martinez's attorney says he is innocent. The case is set to go to trial in January.
This story has been to add new information.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump admin faces new limits on ICE use of force in Chicago crackdown
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