The federal judge who sought to meet daily with U.S. Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino said Wednesday she “was a little surprised” to see the feds challenge that arrangement — especially after Bovino’s appearance on Fox News.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis made the comment Wednesday evening, after the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to put a temporary hold on her standing appointment with Bovino.
Even though the appeals court called off Bovino’s appearance, lawyers still met with the judge in her courtroom, according to a transcript posted on the court docket.
“I did see Mr. Bovino’s interview on Fox News today, where he did state that he was excited to come to court and that this would not impede his activities or his ability to manage the operation at all,” Ellis said. “So I was a little surprised just to see that the government’s position … was directly contradicted by Mr. Bovino.”
There’s still a chance Bovino could wind up spending more time in Ellis’ courtroom. The appeals court asked for additional briefing on the issue by the end of business Thursday.
Bovino was also due to appear at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse Thursday morning for a deposition behind closed doors. Ellis has said it could go as long as five hours.
Ellis noted that she’s been “receiving emails from the public.” She said she’d shared them with lawyers in the lawsuit that prompted Bovino’s appearance in her courtroom earlier this week, as well as a temporary restraining order this month.
“I do want to note that, certainly, any decision that I made to monitor the effectiveness and compliance of the [temporary restraining order] that I entered was based solely on the evidence submitted in this case,” Ellis said. She added, “It was not, as the government asserts, based on anything outside of the record.”
Ellis is presiding over a lawsuit about the feds’ treatment of protesters and journalists during the deportation campaign known as “Operation Midway Blitz.” The lawsuit was brought by media organizations, including the Chicago Headline Club, Block Club Chicago and the Chicago Newspaper Guild, which represents journalists at the Chicago Sun-Times.
The judge earlier this month forbade federal agents from using gas and other “riot control” weapons without two warnings or against people who pose no immediate threat. Then, last week, attorneys in the case accused Bovino of personally tossing tear gas into a crowd in Little Village without justification.
The Department of Homeland Security said agents were being threatened by “hostile” members of the crowd at the time, and that warnings were given before “riot control measures” were deployed.
Still, Ellis ordered Bovino into her courtroom Tuesday, triggering a high-profile hearing in which the Border Patrol boss spent about an hour on the witness stand. The judge told Bovino she wanted to keep meeting with him every weeknight during the week that followed.
Justice Department lawyers objected, and they later told the 7th Circuit it amounted to an “extraordinarily disruptive requirement.”
Neither the reporters nor editors who worked on this story — including some represented by the Newspaper Guild — have been involved in the lawsuit described in this article.