Judge dismisses Chicago-area use-of-force lawsuit at plaintiffs’ request

A federal judge in Chicago dismissed a lawsuit Thursday that had restricted federal immigration agents’ use of force against protesters, clergy and journalists.

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis tossed the case with prejudice after the plaintiffs moved to dismiss the lawsuit last month in a seemingly strategic move.

The case was brought last fall by protesters, clergy and members of the media. It culminated in November with Ellis’ historic order that restricted the feds’ use of tear gas, chokeholds and other uses of force during President Donald Trump administration’s deportation campaign in Chicago called Operation Midway Blitz.

During Thursday’s brief hearing, Ellis decertified the class governed by that preliminary injunction since the order is no longer in effect.

The plaintiffs’ move to dismiss the lawsuit was apparently done to avoid a three-judge panel from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that could have narrowed Ellis’ order.

Two weeks ago, Ellis paused her decision to dismiss the case, citing the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Macklin Good by an immigration officer in Minneapolis.

The Chicago Headline Club, Block Club Chicago and the Chicago Newspaper Guild — which represents journalists at the Chicago Sun-Times — are among the plaintiffs in the case.

Ellis famously read Carl Sandburg’s poem “Chicago” before issuing her preliminary injunction Nov. 6.

Through the lawsuit, lawyers for the plaintiffs obtained testimonies and depositions from U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino and other immigration officials. It also led to the release of a portion of records and body-worn camera videos of the feds’ operations in Chicago.

Ellis also concluded in the case that Bovino lied when he said he personally deployed tear gas in Little Village after nearly being hit in the head with a rock.

Most federal immigration officials, including Bovino, left Chicago in November, then returned for a couple of days last month before leaving again. During the deportation campaign last fall, federal agents fatally shot Silverio Villegas González and separately shot a 30-year-old woman who survived. A Department of Homeland Security source previously told the Chicago Sun-Times that as many as 1,000 agents could return in March, which is four times the roughly 250 agents that were in the area last fall.

Following Thursday's hearing, Ellis heard the case in which the state of Illinois is accusing federal immigration officials of an illegal occupation that has caused “indiscriminate violence” and an “impermissible interference with state sovereignty.”

Lawyers for the state requested to meet with the plaintiff’s lawyers in the Chicago Headline Club case to share discovery materials that had been provided by the government in the now-dismissed case.

Andrew Warden, a Department of Justice attorney, asked that he speak with their clients before allowing discovery materials to be shared. He said starting that process would be “premature,” noting that the government still has more than a month to respond to the state’s initial complaint.

The next hearing in the case brought by the state is scheduled for Feb. 19.

Neither the reporter nor editors who worked on this story — including some represented by the Newspaper Guild — have been involved in the lawsuit described in this article.