Overview
- Just before Gregory Bovino’s first scheduled briefing on Wednesday, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked the order that he report in person to the district judge each weekday.
- U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis had imposed the check-ins after reports and video showed agents using tear gas in residential areas, including near a children’s Halloween parade, prompting her warning that such tactics cannot target nonthreatening bystanders.
- Bovino must still comply with Ellis’s transparency directives, including obtaining a body-worn camera and training by Friday, producing use-of-force and incident reports and related video by Friday, and appearing for a deposition Thursday.
- The Justice Department argued the daily briefings would disrupt core executive enforcement functions, while DHS circulated video defending agents’ actions; Bovino said he welcomed the chance to describe street conditions.
- Operation Midway Blitz has produced more than 1,800 arrests since September, and related legal battles are unfolding, including a Supreme Court timetable that delays any decision on National Guard deployments in Chicago until at least Nov. 17 and a Portland trial over Guard authority now underway.