A federal judge in Chicago said she is concerned about a request to dismiss a lawsuit over federal agents’ use of force following the fatal shooting of a woman by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, Capitol News Illinois reported.
“It doesn’t give me much comfort in reading news reports that someone who—in some news reports, anyway—was described as a legal observer was shot yesterday in Minneapolis. So that is my concern,” U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said during a hearing on Thursday, the outlet reported.
Why It Matters
Renee Nicole Good, 37, was fatally shot by an ICE officer during a traffic stop in a residential neighborhood in Minneapolis on Wednesday. The shooting came amid a series of immigration enforcement operations in major cities under President Donald Trump’s administration.
The Department of Homeland Security said on X on Wednesday that one of several “violent rioters” attempted to “run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them—an act of domestic terrorism.” The agency said the ICE officer, “fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots.”
State and local leaders disputed the claim that the ICE officer was acting in self-defense.
“They are already trying to spin this as an act of self-defense. Having seen the video myself, I wanna tell everybody directly, that is bulls***,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said.
What To Know
In November, Ellis issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed by news organizations, journalists and protesters who alleged that federal agents used excessive force during immigration enforcement operations in Chicago. Ellis’ order restricted agents from using physical force and chemical agents like tear gas and pepper balls, unless necessary or to prevent “an immediate threat.”
A federal appeals court issued a stay later that month, temporarily halting the order.
The plaintiffs submitted a motion to dismiss the lawsuit last month. Their attorneys wrote, “Recently, however, the situation that precipitated the relief sought in this litigation has changed in a material way. Specifically, it appears that Operation Midway Blitz, has ended. The roughly 200-225 DHS agents led by Defendant Bovino who traveled from Los Angeles to the Chicagoland area are no longer operating in the Northern District of Illinois.”
In a response to the motion, attorneys for the defendants said the plaintiffs were “wrong to allege that Operation Midway Blitz has ended or that Defendants have ceased immigration enforcement activity in the Chicago area.”
“It is standard for particular agents and teams to move around the country as operational needs change, but DHS’s enforcement activity in Chicago has not ended, and Defendants intend to continue their lawful activities in this jurisdiction,” they wrote.
Ellis said during Thursday’s hearing, “If I dismiss this case, the preliminary injunction ceases to exist,” and mentioned news reports that several dozen Border Patrol agents had returned to the area on Tuesday night, Capitol News Illinois reported.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs said they wanted to move forward with dismissal, the outlet reported.
Ellis said while she “certainly cannot force plaintiffs to litigate a case they don’t want to litigate,” she still has “an obligation to protect the interests of the class.”
Attorneys said no members of the class action lawsuit filed objections to the motion to dismiss, Chicago news station WTTW reported.
What People Are Saying
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, during a hearing on Thursday, according to Capitol News Illinois: “Certainly, given my ruling, I believe that the evidence in this case justified the need for a preliminary injunction to govern the actions of the government when interacting with legal observers, journalists and protesters.”
Steve Art, attorney for the plaintiffs, told the Associated Press last month: “Because of the work of many Chicagoans, including the brave plaintiffs in this case, the brutality of Operation Midway Blitz was carefully documented for all to see, the constitutional rights of civilians across the region were vindicated, and the Trump administration’s justifications for its conduct were exposed as blatant lies. Judge Ellis’s powerful opinion stands as the final word in this case, and as a defining document of our time.”
Attorneys for the defendants, in a response filed last month: “After months of litigation, and just weeks after securing a sweeping preliminary injunction and a 233-page opinion justifying it—but after the Seventh Circuit unanimously put that injunction on hold and cast doubt on the legitimacy of this suit—Plaintiffs are seeking to throw in the towel. This is transparent procedural gamesmanship.”
What Happens Next
Ellis has not ruled yet on the plaintiffs’ motion to dismiss. The judge scheduled a hearing for January 22, Capitol News Illinois reported.
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