Overview
- Deposition transcripts show Cmdr. Gregory Bovino admitted lying multiple times about when he deployed tear gas in Little Village and offered combative, semantic answers under questioning.
- Judge Sara Ellis’s 233-page opinion found DHS, ICE and CBP repeatedly misrepresented events and that agents used indiscriminate force against protesters, journalists and others during Operation Midway Blitz.
- Court-reviewed videos, including footage from outside the Broadview ICE facility, contradict official accounts and depict agents firing flashbangs, tear gas and pepper balls without warning.
- Ellis’s preliminary injunction restricts use of tear gas and riot-control weapons and requires visible identification and body cameras, though the Seventh Circuit has temporarily paused parts of the order while the appeal proceeds and suggested a narrower injunction may be appropriate.
- Bovino, who led the Chicago operation and has since been reassigned to North Carolina, remains a focal figure as litigation continues toward a March trial date.