The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday granted the Department of Justice’s request to pause a lower-court order requiring the leader of the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz immigration-enforcement effort in Chicago to check in daily with a federal judge.
The appellate court’s decision came less than two hours before Greg Bovino, commander in charge of U.S. Border Patrol, was to meet with U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis.
Ellis had ordered him Tuesday to appear each day “to hear about how the day went” after weeks of confrontations between immigration agents and the public during the enforcement campaign.
In a one-page order, the 7th Circuit granted the government’s request for an administrative stay “only to the extent it required Gregory Bovino to appear in court, in person, each weekday at 5:45 p.m.” The court directed the plaintiffs in the underlying lawsuit to file a brief by 5 p.m. Thursday.
In its motion, DOJ argued that “absent a stay, the government will be irreparably harmed because Chief Bovino will be required to prepare and sit for questioning in open court today and every weekday thereafter, with no stated endpoint in sight.”
“Every occasion that Chief Bovino is required to prepare and appear for those daily court sessions is time that he would otherwise spend carrying out the important law-enforcement functions as he has been assigned,” DOJ wrote. “The time taken away from his official duties will be lost forever.
“The order thus intrudes upon core Executive Branch prerogatives and interests, including by unduly interfering with Chief Bovino’s ongoing duties to oversee substantial immigration-enforcement activities, which cannot be remedied after the fact.”
DOJ also argued that the plaintiffs — including media organizations such as the Chicago Headline Club, Block Club Chicago, the Chicago Newspaper Guild Local 34071, and the Illinois Press Association — “will suffer no harm during this short time it will take this Court to decide the government’s [appeal]. The daily reporting requirement was sua sponte [voluntarily] by the district court, not by the plaintiffs.”
Ellis’ unusual order followed mounting allegations that agents under Bovino’s command used excessive force, including deploying tear gas in Chicago neighborhoods and against reporters covering protests surrounding Operation Midway Blitz.
Meanwhile, as the appellate ruling came down, the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago was briefly locked down after a bomb threat, according to the Chicago Tribune. For about 30 minutes, no one was allowed in or out, and some courthouse employees said they were told to shelter in place.
Security officers with dogs were seen patrolling the perimeter of the high-rise building, and at least one afternoon hearing was delayed. The “all clear” was given shortly after 4 p.m. local time.
It was not immediately known whether the threat was tied to the Bovino controversy, which sparked protests Tuesday outside the courthouse.
Newsmax has reached out to the Department of Justice and Loevy & Loevy, the Chicago law firm representing the plaintiffs, for comment.
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