By Diana Novak Jones
CHICAGO (Reuters) -A federal judge in Chicago called U.S. immigration officials into her courtroom on Monday to answer questions about agents’ use of aggressive tactics during President Donald Trump’s crackdown in the city.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis has repeatedly expressed concern that federal agents were violating her Oct. 9 order requiring them to wear visible identification and to issue warnings before deploying anti-riot weapons such as tear gas.
On Friday, Ellis ordered federal officers to wear body cameras while conducting immigration enforcement activity and during interactions with the public.
Clashes between protesters and federal agents, particularly officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have increased since Trump launched the immigration crackdown last month.
Trump also ordered the deployment of National Guard troops, including hundreds of Texas soldiers, to the Chicago area, part of the Republican president’s extraordinary campaign to send military personnel to Democratic-run cities. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the deployment, but the Justice Department has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to pause that ruling and allow the troops to proceed.
Trump has portrayed Chicago as riven by violent crime, a description at odds with statistics showing the city’s murder rate has been on the decline for several years. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, has accused Trump of deliberately seeking to provoke unrest to justify further federal intervention.
Federal agents have employed combative tactics during the crackdown, including storming an apartment building with officers rappelling from military helicopters.
Ahead of Monday’s hearing, the judge flagged two specific incidents that troubled her.
On Oct. 12, federal agents fired tear gas at a group of residents who were observing a man’s arrest in a neighborhood on the city’s north side.
And last week, agents intentionally crashed into a car holding two men they were pursuing on the city’s southeast side, according to a DHS statement. When crowds of onlookers and protesters began to gather around the scene, Border Patrol agents lobbed smoke grenades, pepper balls and tear gas into the crowd.
Footage on social media showed a couple with an infant in a car seat running through the cloud of tear gas. Reuters could not immediately verify the video.
(Reporting by Diana Novak Jones in Chicago; Additional reporting by Renee Hickman in Chicago and Joseph Ax in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Aurora Ellis)
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