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CHICAGO (AP) — Concerned about clashes between agents and the public, a judge on Thursday ordered federal immigration agents in the Chicago area to wear body cameras and also summoned a top official to court next week to discuss a police operation that has resulted in more than 1,000 arrests.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said she was “a little shocked” after watching television footage of street clashes involving tear gas and other tactics during President Donald Trump’s administration’s immigration crackdown in the nation’s third-largest city.
“I live in Chicago if people haven’t noticed,” he said. “And I’m not blind, am I?”

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Community efforts to oppose U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have intensified in Chicago, where neighborhood groups have gathered to monitor ICE activity and film incidents involving agents. More than 1,000 immigrants have been arrested since September.
An immigration control building in Broadview, outside Chicago, has been the scene of regular protests. The Trump administration has attempted to deploy National Guard troops to Illinois, in part to patrol the Broadview location, but the strategy was halted last week by a different federal judge.

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Last week, Ellis said officers in the area must wear badges and prohibited them from using certain riot control techniques against peaceful protesters and journalists.
“I am concerned that my order will be followed,” the judge said.
“I add that all officers operating in Operation Midway Blitz must wear body cameras and they must be on,” Ellis said, referring to the government’s name for the crackdown.
U.S. Justice Department attorney Sean Skedzielewski blamed “one-sided and selectively edited media reports.” He also said it would not be possible to distribute cameras immediately.
“I get it. I wouldn’t expect officers to wear body cameras that they don’t have,” Ellis said, adding that the details could be worked out later.
He said the cameras would provide evidence to support how officers handle confrontations with protesters. Ellis said the field director of the law enforcement effort is due in court Monday.

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Gov. JB Pritzker praised the judge’s ruling and said the government’s statements about arrests and other incidents, including last month’s fatal shooting of a suburban Chicago man, have often been inaccurate.
“They’re clearly lying about what’s going on,” he told reporters. “It’s hard for us to know right away what the truth is.”
In 2024, Immigration and Customs Enforcement began deploying about 1,600 body cameras among agents assigned to Enforcement and Removal Operations.

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At the time, officials said they would be turned over to agents in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, Buffalo, New York and Detroit. Other Department of Homeland Security agencies require some agents to wear cameras. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has released body camera video when its agents or officers have used force.
Earlier this week, a Cook County judge banned ICE from arresting people at courthouses in Chicago and the suburbs.


