CHICAGO (AP) — A coalition of protesters, journalists and faith leaders filed Tuesday to dismiss their lawsuit challenging the aggressive tactics of federal immigration officials in the Chicago area, arguing that the Trump administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz” is largely over.
While the plaintiffs characterized their move as a victory, the case was headed for a skeptical appeals court.
The court filing on Tuesday noted that federal officials led by senior US Border Patrol agent Gregory Bovino “are no longer operating in the Northern District of Illinois.” Bovino left the Chicago area last month for North Carolina, but sporadic immigration arrests continued by other federal agents.
“We got the relief we were looking for. They left,” said David Owens, a lawyer who represents the plaintiffs. “When the emergency goes away, things change.”
The lawyers also noted a powerful 223-page opinion by US District Judge Sara Ellis last month that outlined her findings in issuing a preliminary injunction restricting federal agents’ use of force.
The fate of the order was up in the air after an appeals court last month deemed it “overbroad” and “too prescriptive.” But the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals also cautioned against “over-reading” its stay of the Ellis injunction and said a speedy appeals process could lead to a “more tailored and appropriate” order. Arguments before the three-judge panel were set for later this month.
Owens declined to detail the plaintiffs’ legal reasoning for dropping the case, including whether appellate court intervention played a role.
The injunction was in response to a lawsuit filed by news outlets and protesters who claimed federal officials used excessive force during an immigration crackdown that has netted more than 3,000 arrests since September in the nation’s third-largest city and its many suburbs. Among other things, Ellis’ order restricted agents from using physical force and chemical agents such as tear gas and pepper balls, unless necessary or to prevent an “immediate threat.” She said that the current practices violated the constitutional rights of journalists and protesters.
“Because of the work of many Chicagoans, including the brave plaintiffs in this case, the brutality of Operation Midway Blitz has been thoroughly documented for all to see, the constitutional rights of civilians across the region have been violated, and the Trump administration’s justifications for its behavior have been exposed as blatant lies,” said attorney Steve Art. “Judge Ellis’ powerful opinion stands as the last word in this case, and as a defining document of our time.”
A message left Tuesday for the Department of Homeland Security was not immediately returned. The department oversees both the US Border Patrol and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The DHS and Bovino defended the operation in Chicago, saying agents were going after criminals and facing hostile crowds.
The case also precipitated a wealth of new details about the immigration operation in the Chicago area, including through private interviews with Bovino, body camera footage and witness testimony in court. Ellis cited each of these in her opinion, describing agents firing tear gas without warning, aiming rubber rounds at reporters, addressing protesters and laughing as blood gushed from a protester’s ear — scenes that Ellis says were in clear contradiction to the government’s own narratives.