Border Patrol agents under fire for allegedly disrupting children's Halloween parade in Chicago

People in Chicago are upset with the U.S. Border Patrol because they say federal agents stopped a children’s Halloween parade over the weekend, using aggressive tactics and tear gas during an immigration enforcement incident.

The most recent fight between federal agents and residents happened just before Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino was set to appear in front of a federal judge on Tuesday. He is in charge of “Operation Midway Blitz,” an immigration enforcement operation in Chicago.

According to court documents in a lawsuit against the federal government, Judge Sara Ellis of the U.S. District Court for the Northern Illinois has ordered Bovino to appear before her after claims that he used tear gas on a group of protesters “without justification” last week.

In a hearing earlier this month, Ellis said she was “profoundly concerned” about the way federal agents handled a number of fights with protesters. On October 9, she issued a temporary restraining order that stopped federal agents from using violent methods to stop protests, such as using tear gas without warning.

Ellis added to her order on October 16 that federal agents in Chicago must wear body cameras and keep them on during “law enforcement activities.”

On Saturday, Border Patrol agents from the city’s Northwest Side raided the Old Irving Park neighborhood to enforce immigration laws. People who lived in the area said that the agents stopped a Halloween parade for kids and used tear gas on people who were trying to help without warning.

ABC News confirmed video footage that showed agents using tear gas and tackling and arresting several people, including U.S. citizens, outside homes decorated for Halloween. ABC News confirmed one video in which resident Carlos Rodriguez yells at agents, “You’re scaring our kids to death.”

“Unbelievable.” Rodriguez said in the video, “I never thought this would happen in my neighborhood, scaring our kids to death and thinking this is a cool thing to do.”

Residents said they had to move the Halloween parade to a nearby school because of the Border Patrol’s presence.

Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told ABC News that agents “had to deploy crowd control measures” to keep themselves safe from a crowd that was acting aggressively.

Agents were doing an operation that led to the arrest of a “criminal illegal alien from Mexico” who had been arrested before for assault, according to McLaughlin. “During the operations, Border Patrol agents were surrounded by a group of agitators. Federal law enforcement issued multiple lawful commands and verbal warnings, all of which were ignored,” McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin added, “During the operation, two U.S. citizens were arrested for assaulting and impeding a federal officer. To safely clear the area after multiple warnings and the crowd continuing to advance on them, Border Patrol had to deploy crowd control measures.”

Construction worker Luis Villegas was identified by his family and a resident of the neighborhood as being among those arrested in Saturday’s Border Patrol enforcement in Old Irving Park. Villegas’s family told ABC station WLS in Chicago that the 35-year-old Villegas has lived in the Chicago area since the age of 4 after coming from Mexico.

It’s unclear if Villegas is the same man federal agents were targeting in the Old Irving Park incident.

The relatives said that at the time of his arrest, Villegas was doing landscaping work at a home in the area. Witnesses told WLS that when they tried to intervene, the agents deployed tear gas. City officials condemned the operation in Old Irving Park, saying its lawyers are challenging the agents’ actions in court.

Illinois State Rep. Lindsey LaPointe posted a statement on social media following the incident, blasting the actions by federal agents as “harmful, traumatic, illegal and uncalled for.”

“Many of us are appalled, horrified and angered by these federal actions,” said LaPointe, adding that she arrived at the scene after the federal agents left and the tear gas had dissipated. “But many of us are also heartened that neighbors care and are coming together — showing up for each other, sharing information and making it clear that none of this is okay and none of this is normal.”

Ahead of his appearance before Judge Ellis on Tuesday, Bovino in an interview with ABC News defended the actions of Border Patrol agents in Chicago.

Asked by ABC News if there are any areas his agency considers off-limits for enforcement, Bovino said, “There are no sanctuaries in Chicago or anywhere else in the United States.” Bovino said that since “Operation Midway Blitz” started in Chicago on Sept. 6, more than 2,800 apprehensions have been made in the area.

On Thursday, the plaintiffs in a lawsuit Ellis is presiding over submitted a notice of an alleged violation of the judge’s temporary restraining order that included a video they contend shows Bovino tossing a tear-gas canister “without justification” toward a crowd of protesters this week in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood.”

McLaughlin said Bovino deployed “riot control measures” after “rioters” threw rocks and other objects at him and other Border Patrol agents conducting immigration enforcement operations. McLaughlin said Bovino was struck in the head during the incident but not seriously injured.

“Agents properly used their training,” McLaughlin said. “The use of chemical munitions was conducted in full accordance with CBP policy and was necessary to ensure the safety of both law enforcement and the public.”

In a court filing on Sunday, the plaintiffs accused DHS of lying about the incident.

“[T]he government is perpetrating extreme violence against peaceful and innocent American civilians in order to provoke a reaction that the government then uses as an after-the-fact justification for the violence it has already used,” the plaintiffs’ filing states.

Asked by ABC News about the tear-gas-throwing incident, Bovino said, “I’ll go ahead and let those facts come out in the court hearing. So, I would stay tuned there to that, and we’ll get those questions answered promptly there.”

Bovino added, “But anytime we have violent riots, violent mobs, we’re going to ensure that individuals in those mobs and our agents are coming home at the end of the shift, and that’s what happened.”

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/border-patrol-agents-fire-allegedly-disrupting-childrens-halloween/story?id=126900354

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