Dem
47
GOP
53
In the movie One Battle After Another, Sean Penn plays a racist ICE agent (is that redundant?)—a skinhead with a badge, who has risen through the ranks with the hopes of joining a secret cabal whose only goal is to Make America White Again (Stephen Miller's fever dream come to life). He's also a raving lunatic and, ultimately, just a pawn whose usefulness lies in his willingness to carry out orders without question, including murder and mayhem.
That character bears a striking resemblance to Greg Bovino, the Customs and Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent, El Centro Sector, which includes the California counties of Imperial and parts of San Diego (where Sean Penn's character was also stationed). More recently, Bovino's been a little far afield in Chicago. He clearly believes he's on some kind of mission (which remains undefined) and sees the people who live there as a threat to this mission. So, he and his army are beating people up, shooting pepper bullets at close range, and throwing tear gas at residents gathered outside their homes. That includes children and their parents who were out on the streets preparing for a Halloween parade. And a 70-year old who dared to ask an agent what his purpose is. When Donald Trump dutifully read the speech Miller wrote for him, which says the enemy is the American people, Bovino apparently took that as carte blanche to wage war in his own special way against the good people of Chicago. He is instigating violence, and then lying about how it started, alongside poorly trained but heavily armed men who seemingly answer only to him.
That said, as is so often the case with this administration, while Bovino is dangerous and unhinged, he's also a nitwit. He obviously doesn't recognize that he's being used and will be abandoned as soon as his stupidity eclipses his fear tactics, which looks to be soon.
Not long after CBP tried its Chicago takeover, a federal judge, Sara Ellis, issued a temporary restraining order requiring federal agents to wear and activate body cameras and wear clearly visible identification. The order also prohibits them from throwing tear gas or otherwise harming peaceful protesters and bystanders and from harassing journalists and clergy. The TRO was in response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of journalists, individual protesters and clergy who have been targeted by the operations without warning or provocation. After video evidence showed the agents, including Bovino, violating the TRO, Judge Ellis summoned him to her courtroom to testify. He admitted that he was not wearing a body cam and that he threw tear gas into a nearby crowd. He claimed it was because he was hit with a rock, but there is no evidence to support that claim. Instead, there is a video clearly showing Bovino casually tossing a tear gas canister into a crowd of nearby onlookers. Judge Ellis dryly pointed out that if Bovino had been wearing a body cam as he was supposed to, he could have proven he was hit by a rock.
While Ellis did not find Bovino in contempt, she did set some new rules. First, he has to report to her in person every weekday at 6 p.m. starting tomorrow and continuing until November 5, the date of the preliminary injunction hearing, to explain how he and his agents spent their day. He also has to provide a report on all non-immigration arrests from September 2 forward, with names, arrest dates, charges and resolutions. So, basically he has to report to the principal's office every day after school with written reports about whether he's beaten anyone up on the playground. Not a good look. She also ordered his deposition to proceed on Wednesday, October 29. Initially, she limited it to 2 hours, but after his blatant violations of the TRO, she increased the time to 5 hours.
Bovino and his agents may think they're above the law because the DOJ is turning a blind eye to their abuses and Stephen Miller pronounced them "immune." But Bovino is finding out otherwise; whether he actually learns anything remains to be seen. Steve Vladeck of One First followed Miller's remarks closely about agents' so-called immunity and has a few clarifications. Vladeck first points out that they are absolutely not immune from federal prosecution, and the statute of limitations on the federal crimes doesn't run until, wait for it, 2030 or later. Moreover, immunity from state prosecution depends on what they were doing and why. Were their actions taken as part of their authorized duties? And were those actions necessary to fulfill those duties on an objective basis? They can also be sued civilly for the injuries and emotional trauma these agents have caused. There is video evidence everywhere showing innocent bystanders being thrown to the ground in broad daylight and beaten by multiple officers. It's hard to imagine that a defense of "necessity" will hold up. That'll be some wake-up call when these agents finally realize they've been lied to and have lost everything in service of nothing more than a greedy power grab by some rich dude and his white supremacist stooge. (L)