A federal judge Thursday more than doubled the amount of time Border Patrol boss Gregory Bovino could be questioned under oath as Bovino faced new accusations that he’d violated the judge’s order by tossing tear gas into a crowd in Little Village without justification.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis expanded the time limits on Bovino’s upcoming deposition moments before attorneys argued the feds were “simply ignoring” an order the judge handed down earlier this month.
Bovino threw “tear gas into a crowd” in a moment caught on social media video in an act that violated multiple provisions of that order, they claimed. The lawyers included a screenshot of the moment in their filing.
Federal agents detained at least five people Thursday morning in Little Village — including a local high school student.
Ellis earlier this month forbade agents from using gas and other “riot control” weapons without two warnings or against people who pose no immediate threat.
The judge wrote in a new order Thursday that she wants to hear more about the incidents that occurred Wednesday and Thursday in Little Village during a hearing set for Nov. 5. The judge also reminded the feds of their “obligation to preserve all body-worn camera footage of any use of force incident resulting from Operation Midway Blitz.”
The developments all came in an ongoing lawsuit over the feds’ treatment of protesters during the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration campaign. The lawsuit was brought by media organizations such as the Chicago Headline Club, Block Club Chicago and the Chicago Newspaper Guild, which represents journalists at the Chicago Sun-Times.
Ellis this week allowed the plaintiffs’ lawyers to move forward with a limited deposition of Bovino. She said it could last only two hours, and she said it would have to be limited to “how” federal officers are enforcing the law and whether they are violating people’s constitutional rights, as opposed to “why” Chicago has been targeted.
But in her new order, Ellis expanded Bovino’s deposition to five hours.
The judge has also said the plaintiffs’ lawyers could question former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Chicago Field Director Russell Hott and U.S. Border Patrol Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Daniel Parra.
On Thursday, the judge said Parra and Hott could be deposed for three hours each.
Bovino is also at the center of another high-profile case at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, in which prosecutors say Juan Espinoza Martinez, a “ranking member of the Latin Kings” street gang, put a $10,000 bounty on Bovino’s head.
The feds have used the prosecution to argue that the U.S. Supreme Court should allow President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard troops within Illinois over the objection of Gov. JB Pritzker.
Lawyers for Martinez say he has “no prior criminal history or gang affiliation.” During a brief hearing Wednesday, defense attorney Jonathan Bedi pushed for trial as soon as possible.
He told U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow that prosecutors “can’t come anywhere near sustaining their burden” to prove Martinez guilty.
Lefkow set the trial for Jan. 20.
Neither the reporter nor editors working on this story — which include some represented by the Newspaper Guild — have been involved in the lawsuit described in this article.