Chicago Federal Judge Hauls Bovino in to Court

A Chicago federal judge on Friday demanded that CBP commander and federal escalation impresario Greg Bovino appear next week in her courtroom after he was accused of openly violating one of her orders.

Attorneys in the case said on Thursday that Bovino had flung a canister of tear gas at a crowd of protestors in Chicago, days after he returned from a two-week absence due to a purported groin injury. They included an image and a link to a video that appeared to show him doing so.

The judge in the case, District Judge Sara Ellis, issued an order earlier this month barring federal officers in Chicago from using tear gas and other riot control measures on peaceful protestors. She also ordered them to show identification.

Now, as videos and documents suggest that Bovino himself, a named defendant in the suit, violated Ellis’ orders, he will be required to appear for a hearing on Tuesday morning.

Bovino is the Trump administration’s point man for escalation. In Los Angeles earlier this summer and Chicago over the past several weeks, he has overseen aggressive operations that prompted large-scale protests, which the administration has then used as a justification to argue that the military needs to be called in to restore order. He told Telemundo this week that he acted at the personal direction of senior executive branch officials.

“I definitely take my orders from the executive branch, whether that is President Trump or Secretary Noem,” Bovino said.

But videos emerged this week showing Bovino lobbing a gas can into a crowd. Footage also showed officers wearing masks without any identification, apart from markings indicating that they were part of the Border Patrol or BORTAC, the agency’s tactical unit.

It’s only the most recent example of the Trump administration allegedly violating Ellis’ orders in the case, brought by journalists and protestors in Chicago. Earlier this month, Ellis reminded government lawyers that she doesn’t live in a “cave” and is aware of what is going on in the city around her.

DHS Press Secretary Tricia McLaughlin suggested to TPM in a statement that Bovino was acting within a provision of Ellis’ order that allows federal law enforcement to use riot control measures if it’s necessary to ensure the safety of officers or the public. He was under attack by “commercial artillery shell fireworks” and faced a “mob of rioters” that threw rocks, including one that struck Bovino in the head before gas was deployed, McLaughlin said.

DHS didn’t immediately return a request for comment about Bovino being ordered to appear on Tuesday.

TPM spoke with Chicago alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez, who was present at a protest with Bovino this week. Sigcho-Lopez sent TPM a video of the protest, in which the alderman shouts at unidentified federal officers, and Bovino himself at one point, to not deploy tear gas.

The video demonstrates how militarized the federal presence has become: many of the officers carry assault rifles; a black hawk helicopter circles overhead throughout.

“You cannot use tear gas on people,” Sigcho-Lopez says on the video at one point, with Bovino in the frame. “If you use tear gas on people, you are in contempt.” That video was recorded after Bovino used the tear gas, Sigcho-Lopez said.

“Some of the masked individuals were giving him the cans,” Sigcho-Lopez said.