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Federal agents are temporarily prevented from firing rubber bullets, tear gas and other chemical weapons at protesters and journalists in Chicago after a trial On behalf of press associations and faith leaders making allegations Donald Trump’s administration “An example of extreme cruelty.”
A restraining order from District Judge Sarah Ellis prevents federal authorities from using riot control weapons and other force against clearly identified members of the press as well as protesters and religious leaders who are posing no immediate threat to law enforcement.
Ellis also specifically prohibits officers from firing weapons that “strike the head, neck, waist, spine, or breast of a woman, or strike a person with a vehicle,” as well as “pulling or pushing a person to the ground, tackling, or body-slamming” protesters who are not harming others.
The order comes after journalists and protesters testified that federal agents fired “indiscriminately” at protesters, including an incident captured on video where officers defending an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility hit a Presbyterian minister with pepper bullets in the head, causing him to fall to the ground.
Thursday’s order came as another federal judge in Illinois was considering whether to ban the president from deploying National Guard troops to the state because the administration Advances federal agents and sends troops to other Democratic-led states and cities Following a wave of protests against Trump’s anti-immigration agenda.
Illinois District Judge April Perry consider a lawsuit State and city officials accused the administration of relying on “flimsy pretexts” to send troops into Chicago, where protests broke out after federal agents “repeatedly fired chemical weapons at groups, including media and legal observers,” while “dozens of masked, armed federal agents … paraded through downtown Chicago in a show of force and control.”
Last week, Oregon officials Similarly, the administration was also suedArguing that the President’s threats to send troops are “purely cosmetic” and designed to stoke unrest to justify boots on the ground.
On Sunday, a Trump-appointed judge argued that the relatively small protests in Portland Did not justify the use of federal forces that threatened Oregon’s sovereignty.
But a three-judge federal appeals court panel — including two Trump-appointed judges — appeared poised to strike down the order on Thursday, setting up a potential Supreme Court battle over the president’s authority to federalize troops.
“These are violent people,” Justice Department lawyer Eric MacArthur told the panel Thursday. “This is not sustainable … The president has the right to say ‘enough’ and bring in the National Guard.”
The lawsuit by Chicago journalists, protesters and religious leaders accuses the Trump administration of unconstitutional threats to their First Amendment rights and religious freedom with so-called less-lethal weapons, causing “serious injuries,” while “some are being randomly selected for arrest” and detained inside an ICE facility where they were “detained in secret for hours.”
“No legitimate purpose exists for this brutality or these arrests,” lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote this week. “Officers have not been physically threatened. No government property is threatened. The defendants are acting to intimidate and silence the press and citizens engaged in protected First Amendment activities.”
Last month, the Rev. David Black – dressed in black and standing with protesters – wearing a clerical collar attack by chemical agents Praying in front of an ICE facility in Broadview, a Chicago suburb that has become a center of protests against the administration.
Judge Ellis’ order prohibits federal agents from using any riot control weapon “without at least two separate warnings.”
His order prohibits officers from “detaining or arresting any non-violent protestor who is not resisting a lawful crowd dispersal order, unless there is specific probable cause to believe that the person has committed a crime” that would require an arrest.
All federal agents must also have “visible identification” that is “affixed to their uniform or helmet and prominently displayed, including when wearing riot gear,” unless they are undercover.
Ellis instructed Homeland Security officials to “widely disseminate” his order to federal agents.
in a statement to IndependentHomeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the agency is “taking appropriate and constitutional measures to maintain the rule of law and protect our officers.”
He added, “We remind members of the media to exercise caution when covering these violent riots and remind journalists that covering illegal activities in the field comes with risks – although our officers take every appropriate precaution to minimize those risks to those exercising protected First Amendment rights.”
“Anyone who actively hinders law enforcement in the performance of their sworn duties will face consequences, which may include arrest,” he said.