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A top Border Patrol official was deposed in court over the use of tear gas during an immigration operation in Chicago. Border czar Tom Homan is defending the chief’s actions.
“He’s a professional. He’s a patriot. And I believe he’s going to do well in court,” Homan said Tuesday on “The Faulkner Focus.”
Greg Bovino, chief of the Border Control sector in El Centro, California, is accused of deploying tear gas canisters at protesters earlier this month.
It comes after complaints of excessive force and a judge’s restraining order limiting riot control techniques against peaceful protesters and the press.
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Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino pushes through a crowd of media and protesters while entering the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago on October 28. (Jamie Kelter Davis/Getty Image)
Homan argued that agents use tools like tear gas and pepper balls for protection.
“I wouldn’t call them crowd control measures. These are measures they have to take because they’re being assaulted, because people are impeding what ICE is trying to do,” he said.
Anti-ICE protesters have frequently gathered outside the ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, clashing with agents. Homan argued the people gathered outside the facility shouldn’t be labeled as protesters.
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Border Czar Tom Homan walks toward reporters outside the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 5. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Protesters have the right to protest, we support that. But when they cross that line, when they’re throwing weapons, throwing objects at ICE, assaulting ICE officers or impeding their movements, preventing them from leaving a building with a detainee in their possession, that’s where you’ve got to draw the line,” he said.
The clashes come as the Trump administration carries out “Operation Midway Blitz,” an enforcement effort that has led to more than 1,000 migrant arrests across Illinois. Local and state officials have pushed back on the increased ICE presence.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has accused agents of racial profiling and detaining both illegal immigrants and legal U.S. citizens.
“We want the bad guys off the streets,” Pritzker said on “Special Report” in October.
U.S. Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino leads his team as they confront demonstrators outside an immigrant processing center in Broadview, Illinois, on September 27. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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“What we don’t want is for people to get racially profiled. That’s what’s happening right now.”
Administration officials have strongly denied the governor’s claims.
