A federal judge in Chicago on Thursday cited the fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by an immigration agent in Minneapolis in declining to immediately dismiss a lawsuit that led to her landmark injunction limiting the use of force by immigration agents during Operation Midway Blitz.
In pressing the pause button, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis told the parties in court she still had concerns over her obligation to protect the class of journalists, clergy and other protesters certified in the lawsuit, noting “if I dismiss this case the preliminary injunction ceases to exist.”
“And it doesn’t give me much comfort in reading news reports that someone … who was described as a legal observer was shot yesterday in Minneapolis,” Ellis told the parties in an afternoon hearing. “So that is my concern.”
Ellis said that “given recent events,” she wants to do a little more digging on the law before making a final decision. She set the next hearing for Jan. 22.
After the hearing, lawyers for the plaintiffs said they had no concerns about the judge’s move, and said they were prepared to bring new litigation should there be a future surge in immigration enforcement here that violates the civil rights of citizens to observe and protest.
“We stand ready to do whatever is necessary to stop President Trump, to stop (Department of Homeland Security Secretary) Kristi Noem, to stop (Border Patrol chief Gregory) Bovino, and their agents from violating the most sacred rights of the people of Chicago,” said Craig Futterman, an attorney for the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic.
Futterman also spoke emotionally about Wednesday’s fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good, a mother who had been out recording immigration operations in Minneapolis when she was shot by an officer while seemingly trying to pull away in her vehicle.
He said the Trump administration’s claims that Good tried to run over the officer before he opened fire have been easily debunked only because “ordinary citizens had the courage to videotape what happened.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return messages seeking comment Thursday.
The case brought by the Chicago Headline Club and other media groups led to a sweeping preliminary injunction by Ellis in November limiting the use of tear gas and other chemical munitions against members of the media and protesters and also requiring agents to wear body cameras and clear identification.
The plaintiffs moved to drop the suit last month, however, following ominous signs from the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which called Ellis’ order overbroad and a potential infringement on the separation of powers.
In the request, the plaintiffs claimed victory, saying Bovino and his surge of agents left town soon after Ellis’ injunction was entered on Nov. 8 and that there had been no reports of any unconstitutional behavior by agents in nearly a month.
But an attorney for the administration of President Donald Trump said in a hearing Dec. 4 that, contrary to media reports, Operation Midway Blitz has not ended and that the Trump administration continues to carry out “lawful” immigration enforcement — though she declined to say when or if another surge in Border Patrol agents would hit the city.
Department of Justice attorney Elizabeth Hedges also claimed the dismissal of the lawsuit would bar journalists and protesters from bringing similar claims of constitutional violations in the future — an argument that was immediately called out by Ellis and plaintiffs’ attorneys as a misstatement of the law.
“While it was the government’s position that no agent did anything illegal or unconstitutional, having watched the videos, and having read the reports, and having listened to the witnesses, I strongly disagree,” Ellis said.
Because the lawsuit involved a certified class of plaintiffs, Ellis set a deadline of Thursday for any class members to object to it. None has come forward, the plaintiffs’ attorneys told the judge in court.
Meanwhile, lawyers for the Tribune and other media outlets on Thursday won the release of reams of other evidence that was submitted to the judge for consideration in the case, including use-of-force reports and more footage of incidents around the city.
Department of Justice attorney Andrew Warden, who had objected to the release, said the batch of bodycam videos, which includes footage from up until the judge’s written injunction ruling on Nov. 21, is four times larger than what had previously been released and totals at least 400 hours.
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Ellis granted the government time to review the footage and make necessary redactions before it is made public on a “rolling basis” over the next four months.
The judge also agreed to unseal a transcript of testimony given in October by senior ICE official Shawn Byers, which was done in a closed courtroom after the government claimed there were national security concerns.
If Ellis ultimately agrees to dismiss the suit, it will end a case that came to symbolize the havoc Midway Blitz caused in Chicago and shed light on how the operation was carried out, through sworn depositions by Bovino and other leaders as well as the release of body-camera footage showing agents deploying tear gas, pointing guns from passing cars and tackling civilians on the street.
Ellis had tentatively set a hearing on a permanent injunction for March.
The 7th Circuit later granted an emergency stay of Ellis’ injunctive relief pending appeal, a process that will also be shelved once the dismissal is approved.
Since then, Bovino and a contingent of Border Patrol agents have already returned once to Chicago, in the form of a seemingly made-for-television jaunt shortly before Christmas. Agents made several arrests in supermarket parking lots and tamale stands while goading angry residents who confronted them and threatening to unleash tear gas.
As recently as Dec. 30, Bovino posted on social media: “If you think we’re done with Chicago, you’d better check yourself before you wreck yourself.”
On Wednesday, meanwhile, Bovino was spotted in Minneapolis where more than 2,000 immigration agents were carrying out an enforcement action that immediately exploded in controversy with the shooting of Good, 37, a mother of three who’d recently moved to Minnesota.
The New York Times reported Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security had temporarily abandoned a planned immigration enforcement surge in Chicago and ordered agents to report to Minneapolis for support as protests mounted.
Speaking to reporters after Thursday’s hearing, plaintiffs’ attorney Steve Art said the decision to dismiss the Chicago Headline Club suit made strategic sense, given both the 7th Circuit’s stay and the fact that, for now, the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration push has turned its sights elsewhere.
“If they come back and the situation on the ground changes, then we will have the grounds to file another lawsuit,” Art said.
Art also drew direct parallels to the litigation in Chicago and the tragedy currently unfolding in Minnesota.
“What this case has shown is that citizens on the street and the press can very quickly reveal whether or not the federal government is telling the truth when it engages with civilians in different jurisdictions,” Art said. “And I expect that to continue to happen, as we are seeing in Minneapolis right now.”