Judge Demands ICE Transparency

A judge who is concerned about conflicts between agents and the public announced Thursday that she will mandate body cameras for federal immigration officers in the Chicago region. She also called a senior official to appear in court next week to discuss an enforcement operation that has led to over 1,000 arrests. 

When she saw television footage of street fights involving tear gas and other techniques during President Donald Trump’s administration’s immigration crackdown, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said she was “a little startled.” The interim restriction imposed by a lower court on the use of the National Guard to support immigration authorities in Illinois will remain in effect while the government files an appeal, a federal appeals court decided against the Trump administration. 

Chicago has seen a surge in community opposition to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with local organizations banding together to keep an eye on ICE operations and document agent-related occurrences. Since September, more over 1,000 immigrants have been taken into custody.

 Regular protests have been held outside an immigration enforcement building in Broadview, outside of Chicago. A second federal judge put a stop to the Trump administration’s attempt to use Guard members, in part to monitor at the Broadview location, on October 9 for at least two weeks.