Chicago Border Patrol Chief Summoned Over Aggressive Tactics By Immigration Agents On Protesters

Last Updated:October 28, 2025, 22:59 IST

US Judge summoned Gregory Bovino over alleged tear gas use by federal agents in Chicago, amid Operation Midway Blitz and complaints from Chicago Headline Club and DHS statements.

President Donald Trump had made immigration enforcement a central focus of his platform (AP)

A US Border Patrol official has been summoned by a court over federal agents’ aggressive tactics in Chicago after he was recorded throwing alleged tear gas canister into a crowd.

According to CNN, US District Judge Sara Ellis had issued a temporary restraining order this month blocking agents from using certain types of force against protesters. Recently, she had raised concerns about whether her order was being followed.

As per the court filing, Gregory Bovino, who is in charge of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown in Chicago, “apparently threw tear gas into a crowd without justification" during a protest against immigration authorities in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood.

The filing was issued on Friday by the Chicago Headline Club, a press freedom group.

The group had filed another complaint on Monday against the DHS pointing out that there were were several violations of the court’s temporary restraining order. They said that after making the arrests while leaving the scene, “without any audible warning, agents deployed tear gas" that later caught fire.

Meanwhile, the DHS issued a statement on social media stating that a “mob of rioters" had hit Bovino in the head with an object.

They said: “Border Patrol agents were surrounded and boxed in by a group of agitators. To safely clear the area after multiple warnings and the crowd continuing to advance on them, Border Patrol had to deploy crowd control measures."

This incident is the latest in the federal agents using aggressive crowd control tactics during the Operation Midway Blitz, an immigration enforcement operation that has resulted in more than 1,000 arrests since it began September 8.

Last week, Judge Sara Ellis had summoned leaders of the Trump-administration to question them about violations of her order, asking them about their respective command structures and why they deployed chemical munitions in each incident, CNN reported.

News world Chicago Border Patrol Chief Summoned Over Aggressive Tactics By Immigration Agents On Protesters

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