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The U.S. Department of Justice is challenging a federal judge’s directive that required Greg Bovino, a high-ranking official with Customs and Border Protection, to provide daily updates to the judge. This order was aimed at ensuring adherence to a temporary restraining order that limits the use of force by federal agents.
In a recent development, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay on the judge’s order, just an hour before Bovino was scheduled to have his initial check-in with federal Judge Sara Ellis.
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The planned meeting with Judge Ellis was intended to allow a review of any incidents involving the use of force by Border Patrol agents, particularly those affecting local residents.
An incident expected to be discussed involved Border Patrol agents allegedly using pepper spray on a vehicle in Aurora, with a woman and her two young children inside, on Wednesday morning.
Footage captured on a cell phone outside an Aurora grocery store on Wednesday morning shows the aftermath, as Elizabeth Pineda stood by her car, which appeared to have been hit with pepper bullets while her children were in the backseat.
Speaking to ABC7 shortly after leaving Mercy Hospital Wednesday, Pineda, who is a member of Aurora’s rapid response team, recounted what happened shortly after she pulled into the grocery store, attracted by the whistles used to alert residents of agents’ presence in the area. She admits she was unwittingly blocking one of the agents’ vehicles in.
“He decides to back up and tell me that I need to get the **** out, or I’m going to get arrested,” Pineda said. “There’s agents coming at me. All I hear is them shooting. I thought they were hitting my windshield, I didn’t think they were actually shooting at me until everything happened.”
It was just Tuesday when Judge Ellis ordered Border Patrol Commander Bovino to make sure his agents have their body-worn cameras rolling during all encounters with the public, while also having their identifiers clearly visible on at least two locations. This comes as she seeks to enforce a temporary restraining order that forbids all federal agents participating in Operation Midway Blitz from using chemical agents when their physical safety is not in danger and without giving at least two clear warnings about what they are about to do.
“They didn’t acknowledge that my kids were in the car. I had no form of weapon in order for them to attack me how they did,” Pineda said. “No cameras were visible. No numbers were visible. They did have their badges, but I couldn’t make it out.”
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While it’s still not clear what agency the officers involved belong to, the incident illustrates the type of encounter that Judge Ellis was expected to bring up at the daily meetings she had ordered Border Patrol Commander Bovino to have with her between now and November 5, in hopes of getting clarity on the tactics being used by federal agents in the area each day. However, the first scheduled meeting between the two was canceled Wednesday after the appellate court ordered a stay on the matter.
The appeal from the Department of Justice is accusing the federal judge of overreach and micromanaging.
“So he doesn’t have to show up unless and until the appellate court rules on that question,” ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst Gil Soffer said. “The appellate court wants to get a briefing on it and consider it before it makes a decision ultimately on whether Bovino has to appear regularly so its putting a pause… the court is putting a pause on things.”
Bovino appeared on Fox News earlier Wednesday in anticipation of that first meeting.
“If she wants to meet with me every day then she’s going to see, she’s going to have a very good first hand look at just how bad things really are on the streets of Chicago… we’ve never been in violation of any TRO, any regulation,” Bovino said. “We’re going to speed those apprehensions up, and no, we are going to go harder. We go harder now. I’m not worried about it at all.”
Regardless of the Department of Justice’s appeal on the the judge’s decision to have Bovino appear before her daily in court, Bovino is already scheduled to be back in court Thursday at 10 a.m. to sit for what is expected to be a five-hour deposition regarding his agency’s use of force practices in Chicago.
Gov. Pritzker makes plea to DHS Sec. Noem ahead of Halloween
ABC7 Chicago obtained a letter late Wednesday sent by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
In it, he asks them to suspend immigration enforcement operations over the weekend so children can celebrate Halloween.
This comes just days after tear gas appeared to be dropped on the city’s Northwest Side as children were attending a Halloween parade.
ABC News contributed to this report.
