🔗 Share this article National Immigration Officers in Chicago Required to Use Body Cameras by Judicial Ruling A US judge has ordered that immigration officers in the Chicago area must use recording devices following repeated events where they deployed projectiles, smoke devices, and irritants against demonstrators and local police, seeming to disregard a previous judicial ruling. Judicial Concern Over Operational Methods Federal Judge Sara Ellis, who had earlier mandated immigration agents to wear badges and prohibited them from using dispersal tactics such as tear gas without warning, showed significant frustration on Thursday regarding the DHS's continued heavy-handed approaches. "I reside in Chicago if people were unaware," she declared on Thursday. "And I can see clearly, am I wrong?" Ellis further stated: "I'm seeing footage and viewing footage on the television, in the newspaper, reading accounts where I'm feeling worries about my decision being followed." Wider Situation This latest directive for immigration officers to wear body-worn cameras occurs while Chicago has emerged as the most recent epicenter of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement push in the past few weeks, with intense federal enforcement. At the same time, community members in Chicago have been coordinating to stop detentions within their communities, while the Department of Homeland Security has characterized those activities as "unrest" and declared it "is using appropriate and lawful measures to support the justice system and protect our officers." Recent Incidents Recently, after enforcement personnel conducted a car chase and caused a multiple-vehicle accident, demonstrators yelled "You're not welcome" and launched items at the personnel, who, seemingly without notice, threw chemical agents in the direction of the protesters – and 13 Chicago police officers who were also present. Elsewhere on Tuesday, a masked agent used profanity at demonstrators, ordering them to retreat while pinning a 19-year-old, Warren King, to the sidewalk, while a observer shouted "he has citizenship," and it was uncertain why King was under arrest. Over the weekend, when attorney Samay Gheewala sought to request personnel for a warrant as they apprehended an immigrant in his area, he was forced to the pavement so strongly his palms were injured. Community Impact At the same time, some local schoolchildren were obliged to be kept inside for outdoor activities after irritants filled the roads near their recreation area. Similar anecdotes have been documented across the country, even as previous immigration officials caution that apprehensions appear to be non-selective and comprehensive under the expectations that the Trump administration has imposed on agents to expel as many individuals as possible. "They don't seem to care whether or not those people present a threat to community security," an ex-director, a former acting Ice director, stated. "They just say, 'If you're undocumented, you qualify for removal.'"