Americans woke up to another example of the left’s theater of outrage when Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino was hauled into federal court to answer questions about the use of tear gas during federal immigration operations in Chicago. Video that was live-streamed and later scrutinized appears to show Bovino tossing a canister into a crowd, a moment the media and activists seized as proof of misconduct even as facts are still being established.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis has tightened the screws, imposing a temporary restraining order that limits certain crowd-control tactics, ordering body cameras and even demanding daily briefings as she probes whether agents followed her rules. The extraordinary step of calling a field commander to testify and expanding the time allotted to question him underscores the intense political pressure being applied to law enforcement while the city faces a real public-safety crisis.
Conservatives should be clear-eyed: federal agents in Chicago are operating in an environment where spontaneous crowds can turn violent and where officers report being pelted with fireworks and rocks — circumstances that justify decisive tactics to protect lives and complete lawful arrests. The Biden-era enforcement surge, dubbed Operation Midway Blitz, has resulted in many arrests and a messy clash of priorities between securing the border and appeasing activist outrage, and Washington cannot let political theater hamstring boots-on-the-ground officers.
Yet the predictable spin from the media and activist lawyers — framing every enforcement action as an assault on civil liberties — ignores the simple duty of government: enforce the law and protect neighborhoods from lawlessness. Hardworking Americans want officers empowered to keep the peace, not second-guessed in court for doing their jobs while city politicians and radical interest groups cheer on protesters who obstruct enforcement. If judges want safer streets they should order local leaders to do their jobs, not tie the hands of federal agents trying to restore order.
