Federal officials try to reassure judge they're following her orders to tone down and record Chicagoland protest actions
Source: CNN US
Updated Oct 20, 2025, 1:02 PM ET
PUBLISHED Oct 20, 2025, 4:00 AM ET
Chicago - Trump administration officials are defending themselves in court as a federal judge demands explanations for their response to tense protests against immigration enforcement actions in Chicago. Monday’s hearing began with a promise Customs and Border Protection is taking seriously the judge’s order for its agents to wear and use body-worn cameras: Every CBP agent on duty in Chicago – more than 200 – has a body camera and knows they are required to use it, Deputy Incident Commander Kyle Harvick said.
US District Judge Sara Ellis then calmly peppered Harvick with questions about how agents working on Operation Midway Blitz are trained and respond to protesters in and around Chicago, the latest target of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. The hearing was called in response to news reports suggesting agents were violating her order to avoid less-lethal munitions and tear gas.
Ellis, an Obama appointee, initially had called for the interim head of Chicago’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office, Russell Hott, to appear Monday “to explain to me why I am seeing images of tear gas being deployed and reading reports that there were no warnings given before it was deployed out in the field.” After seeming to agree to her request, the Department of Homeland Security told Ellis on Friday that Hott had left the city to return to his permanent job as field operations director in Washington, DC.
The Trump administration instead offered Harvick and ICE Deputy Field Office Director Shawn Byers, and Ellis agreed – as long as the officials would disclose how the agencies are deploying riot control tactics against protesters and journalists. “I’m looking at it from the outside,” Ellis said in court Monday.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/20/us/chicago-ice-trump-federal-officials-hearing