Protesters move to end their lawsuit over immigration officers' tactics
in the Chicago area
[December 03, 2025]
By CHRISTINE FERNANDO and SOPHIA TAREEN
CHICAGO (AP) — A coalition of protesters, journalists and faith leaders
moved Tuesday to dismiss their lawsuit challenging the aggressive
tactics of federal immigration officers in the Chicago area, arguing
that the Trump administration's “Operation Midway Blitz” has largely
ended.
While plaintiffs characterized their move as a win, the case was headed
toward a skeptical appeals court.
The court filing Tuesday noted that the federal officers led by senior
U.S. Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino “are no longer operating in
the Northern District of Illinois.” Bovino left the Chicago area last
month for North Carolina, but sporadic immigration arrests have
continued by other federal agents.
“We got the relief that we were looking for. They left,” said David
Owens, an attorney representing the plaintiffs. “When the emergency goes
away, things change."
The attorneys also noted a blistering 223-page opinion by U.S. District
Judge Sara Ellis last month that outlined her findings in issuing a
preliminary injunction restricting federal agents’ use of force.
The fate of the order was up in the air after an appeals court last
month deemed it “overbroad” and “too prescriptive.” But the 7th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals also cautioned against “overreading” its stay
of Ellis' injunction and said a quick appeal process could lead to a
“more tailored and appropriate” order. Arguments before the three-judge
panel were set for later this month.
Owens declined to detail the plaintiffs’ legal reasoning in dropping the
case, including if the appeals court’s intervention played a role.
The injunction was in response to a lawsuit filed by news outlets and
protesters who claimed federal officers used excessive force during an
immigration crackdown that has netted more than 3,000 arrests since
September across the nation’s third-largest city and its many suburbs.
Among other things, Ellis’ order restricted agents from using physical
force and chemical agents such as tear gas and pepper balls, unless
necessary or to prevent an “an immediate threat.” She said the current
practices violated the constitutional rights of journalists and
protesters.
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Greg Bovino, the chief patrol agent for the U.S. Border Patrol El
Centro sector, center, stands with federal immigration agents near
an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Ill.,
Oct. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File)
“Because of the work of many Chicagoans, including the brave
plaintiffs in this case, the brutality of Operation Midway Blitz was
carefully documented for all to see, the constitutional rights of
civilians across the region were vindicated, and the Trump
administration’s justifications for its conduct were exposed as
blatant lies,” said attorney Steve Art. “Judge Ellis’s powerful
opinion stands as the final word in this case, and as a defining
document of our time.”
A message left Tuesday for the Department of Homeland Security was
not immediately returned. The department oversees both the U.S
Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
DHS and Bovino have defended the operation in Chicago, saying agents
were going after criminals and faced hostile crowds.
The case also precipitated a trove of new details about the
immigration operation in the Chicago area, including through private
interviews with Bovino, body camera footage and witness testimonies
in court. Ellis cited each of these in her opinion, describing
agents launching tear gas without warning, aiming rubber rounds at
reporters, tackling protesters and laughing as blood oozed from a
demonstrator’s ear — scenes that Ellis says were flatly at odds with
the government’s own narratives.
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