Trump administration appeals injunction restricting use of force in 'Operation Midway Blitz'

Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune on Nov 10, 2025

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CHICAGO — The Trump administration on Monday asked an appeals court to immediately halt Judge Sara Ellis’ preliminary injunction restricting the use of force in “Operation Midway Blitz,” saying her order is “overbroad and unworkable” and usurps the executive branch’s power to enforce the nation’s laws.

In asking the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for an emergency stay, lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice wrote the case was a “perfect example” of a growing trend in the nation’s courts to issue sweeping injunctions that violate the separation of powers and “superintend law-enforcement activities under threat of contempt.”

“The predictable result is to broadly obstruct the enforcement of the nation’s laws, chill the exercise of executive power, and subvert the constitutional structure,” the 22-page filing stated.

The filing also alleged the injunction issued Thursday by U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis is “unworkable in practice” and illegally transforms her into a “supervisory tribunal” for deciding whether federal officers were acting lawfully in their day-to-day operations.

The 7th Circuit has not yet given a timeline for the plaintiffs in the case to respond.

In issuing the injunction last week, Ellis said top government officials lied in their testimony about threats that protesters posed and that their unlawful behavior on the streets “shows no signs of stopping.”

“I find the government’s evidence to be simply not credible,” Ellis said, describing a litany of incidents over the past month and a half in which citizens were tear-gassed “indiscriminately,” beaten and tackled by agents and struck in the face with pepper-spray balls. “The use of force shocks the conscience.”

The judge noted in particular that Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino lied repeatedly in his deposition testimony about the force that his agents and he himself personally inflicted in incidents across the Chicago area.

“In one of the videos, Bovino obviously attacks and tackles the declarant, Mr. Blackburn, to the ground,” Ellis said about Scott Blackburn, who was protesting outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in west-suburban Broadview. “But Mr. Bovino, despite watching this video (in his deposition) says that he never used force.”

Ellis’ preliminary injunction largely mirrors — and replaces — a temporary restraining order issued by Ellis in early October that enjoins immigration agents from deploying tear gas or other munitions before issuing two explicit warnings, requires agents in the field to have body-worn cameras and wear clear identification on their uniforms and forbids law enforcement from targeting journalists or interrupting their news gathering in most circumstances.

Unlike the temporary restraining order, the preliminary injunction remains in effect until a final decision on the merits of the case is made, either at trial or through a settlement.

The government’s motion Monday said an administrative stay — which would put a pause on the injunction as the appeals process plays out — is warranted in the case “given the highly unusual nature” of Ellis’ order.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security last week called the injunction “an extreme act by an activist judge that risks the lives and livelihoods of law enforcement officers.”

The statement repeated language used previously about “rioters, gangbangers and terrorists” who have “opened fire” on federal officers, thrown rocks, bottles and other projectiles and rammed and ambushed them.

Ellis, however, noted that the government produced virtually no evidence of any of that in the proceedings before her, despite submitting more than 500 hours of body-cam footage and other videos from protests across the Chicago area.

Ellis’ ruling came after a marathon day of evidence Wednesday that featured the sworn videotaped deposition of Bovino, the tough-talking face of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement push, as well as live testimony from more than a half-dozen witnesses who said immigration agents pointed guns at citizens and threatened to arrest protesters who were doing nothing more than recording the agents’ activities on the street.

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