A federal appeals court blocked an Obama-appointed judge’s demand that a top Border Patrol official report to her daily about the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, appointed to the bench in Illinois by President Barack Obama, ordered Chief Border Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino on Tuesday to give her daily in-person updates on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations throughout Chicago. Just before Bovino was to give his first report to the judge on Wednesday, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals paused the order.
“IT IS ORDERED that the government’s request for an administrative stay is GRANTED,” stated a one-page decision by the appeals court. “Pending a decision on the petition for a writ of mandamus, the district court’s October 28, 2025 order is temporarily STAYED only to the extent it required Gregory Bovino to appear in court, in person, each weekday at 5:45 PM.”
The ongoing court battle is being waged as the Trump administration forges ahead with Operation Midway Blitz, an immigration enforcement operation first launched in September that is targeting illegal migrant criminals in Chicago and throughout Illinois.
The sweeping deportation raids have been met with pushback from local Democrats and others opposed to the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. A group of protesters and media organizations filed a lawsuit earlier this month alleging aggressive actions from federal agents.
Ellis not only ordered on Tuesday that Bovino be equipped with a body camera and requested the administration turn over all incident reports, but also demanded Bovino personally report to her daily about the deportation operations, a move that legal experts framed as unprecedented.
“I’ve been a lawyer for almost 50 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Phillip Turner, a former federal prosecutor in Chicago, told the Associated Press about Ellis’ order.
“Over three decades, I’ve had the opportunity to interact with many judges,” Bovino said Wednesday in a Fox News interview. “If she wants to meet with me every day, then she is going to see, she is going to have a very good first-hand look at just how bad things really are on the streets of Chicago.”
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked the order shortly after Bovino gave that media appearance, but kept in place Ellis’ demand that Bovino be equipped with a body camera and receive training on how to use it.
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