Federal immigration officers are using chemical irritants to disperse protesters in ways that violate American policing norms and are testing the boundaries of use-of-force laws, video footage from Chicago shows, in some cases hitting demonstrators directly with the munitions.
© Joshua Lott/The Washington Post
Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have deployed tear gas in cities around the country, but its use has been especially prevalent in Chicago, where the Trump administration launched “Operation Midway Blitz” in September as part of the president’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Since then, federal officers have thrown chemical agents out of vehicles on city streets, creating a hazard for motorists. They have thrown tear-gas canisters near stores and schools, exposing children, pregnant women and older people to the noxious gas. And on numerous occasions federal officers have fired pepper balls directly at protesters — in one case, striking a pastor in the head.
The use of tear gas has persisted in recent days despite a court order forbidding officers from using chemical agents against demonstrators and journalists unless they pose a safety threat. Last week, Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol official leading the Chicago operation, was videotaped throwing a tear-gas canister into a crowd. In another incident, immigration officers deployed tear gas as families were walking to a Halloween parade.
“Generally, these kinds of crowd-control devices are reserved for truly dangerous situations,” said Kevin Fee, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, which is part of a legal coalition representing journalists and protesters in a lawsuit. “I cannot think of a good parallel for what the administration is doing right now.”
Department of Homeland Security officials argue chemical agents are a necessary tool to protect law enforcement and prevent clashes with protesters from escalating. A spokeswoman for the agency said Bovino had been struck in the head with a rock and that someone had also fired fireworks toward officers.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Bovino said officers “want a peaceful resolution” and are using “less lethal” devices like chemical agents to “create peace and to save lives.” The alternative, he said, is far darker. “Say God himself came down and took ’em all away,” he said, referring to the irritants. Officers would be left with “lethal devices.”
“Would you like that?” he asked. “I wouldn’t.”
The frequent use of chemical agents raises questions about training and tactics being used by ICE officers and Border Patrol agents. The latter are now heavily involved in immigration arrests far from the U.S.-Mexico border; most federal agents have scant experience dealing with protesters in urban areas. DHS says assaults against officers have risen significantly.
In Chicago, residents and local journalists have captured footage showing clouds of tear gas drifting toward homes, storefronts and schools. Some residents said the tear gas has aggravated their asthma. Others said they’ve experienced emotional distress.
Jennifer Crespo, who was at a protest as a legal observer when federal agents deployed tear gas, said she vomited from the exposure.
“It was like the world had just been flipped upside down,” she said. “Like somebody just takes the rug out from underneath you. It was surreal. I didn’t recognize my city.”
‘Virgin territory’
Chemical irritants like tear gas have been deployed by law enforcement officers to control crowds for decades, but experts said their use to disperse spontaneous protests is new.
Police deployed tear gas in Chicago and elsewhere during the 2020 protests against police brutality. But officers generally warned demonstrators that they were going to be exposed to fumes if they didn’t leave. They also formed lines and secured their flanks to make sure they wouldn’t be surrounded.
The protests emerging in Chicago today tend to be far more unpredictable. Residents and activists find out that ICE and Border Patrol are in their neighborhood and try to get as close as possible. Some start filming. Others yell aggressively. The protesters congregate from any and all directions.
In response, federal agents sometimes disperse tear gas and pepper balls with little or no warning.
“You’re sort of seeing more of a tactical use of tear gas rather than strategic use,” said Ian T. Adams, a former police officer and current assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina.
Immigration officers in Chicago and other cities have been recorded using both pepper balls — small projectiles fired from a gun that upon contact release a pepper mist — and canisters of CS gas, also known as tear gas. Nations including the United States that are signatories to the Chemical Weapons Convention are barred from using tear gas during international war.
Both chemicals can irritate the eyes, nose, throat and lungs. The effects typically last a few minutes and can provoke coughing and shortness of breath. Studies have found direct or repeat exposure can aggravate conditions like asthma and put people at risk of developing chronic bronchitis. The canister itself can be dangerous and even fatal if someone is hit, and passersby can be injured by the fumes.
“The nature of tear gas is that you can’t target it toward a single rioter,” said Rohini Haar, an ER doctor and epidemiology professor at the University of California at Berkeley. “You’re going to hit people with respiratory vulnerabilities or asthma, and bystanders who have nothing to do with it.”
Federal law prohibits law enforcement from using excessive force, but U.S. courts are not in lockstep when it comes to interpreting what that means, particularly as police employ an ever-evolving array of less-lethal weapons.
The lawsuit filed by journalists and protesters alleges immigration officers are violating First and Fourth amendment rights protecting free expression, and prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures. DHS officials have argued that some demonstrators are committing crimes by assaulting, resisting or obstructing officers from executing their responsibilities.
Many American police lack adequate training in how to respond to spontaneous urban protests, said Thor Eells, executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association. He characterized the use of chemical irritants by immigration officers as “unorthodox” and questioned what training they have received. He also noted that courts have not yet established precedent on acceptable uses in circumstances like those immigration agents are encountering.
“It’s virgin territory,” Eells said. “This is a new, very kinetic and dynamic environment that these federal agents are working in.”
A DHS spokesperson declined to describe what training — if any — agents are receiving to handle unexpected protests. But Jason Owens, a former chief of Border Patrol, said agents are taught about tear gas and its effects as part of their basic training. He said Border Patrol mainly uses chemical agents when a crowd is “not complying with the lawful commands of the law enforcement officers” and that images of agents in gas masks show they have gotten training.
“You have to be trained how to don and doff those things. You have to be trained how to clear it and how to deal with contamination procedure in the heat of the moment,” he said. “Those are all things that are taught and reinforced, and the same is true for those munitions.”
But some former DHS officials also expressed concern that effectively managing an unruly crowd in a city goes beyond the mission of immigration agents — in particular for Border Patrol’s forces, who are more accustomed to encountering cartels than protesters.
“They come from an environment where much more aggressive law enforcement tactics are generally appropriate due to the threats they face doing Border Patrol work in the middle of the southwest desert — very isolated areas where you frequently encounter drug smugglers,” said John Sandweg, former acting ICE director under President Barack Obama. “But those tactics aren’t appropriate when you bring them up to civil immigration enforcement in a city like Chicago.”