October 17, 2025
After ordering ICE agents to wear badges and not seeing it down, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said she is concerned on her orders not being followed.
As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents continue to roam the streets of Chicago, a federal judge is asking them to wear body cameras after seeing concerning videos floating on social media, Associated Press reports.
Highlighting being a “little startled” by graphic videos of ICE agents battling residents on television and social media, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said she will require officers in the Chicago area to wear body cameras. Some of the confrontations include residents being chased, tackled, and attacked with tear gas amid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. “I live in Chicago, if folks haven’t noticed,” Ellis said.
“And I’m not blind, right?”
In addition to the body camera order, Ellis is calling for Chicago U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office Director Russell Hott, according to ABC 7 Chicago, to testify before the court in mid-October 2025 to discuss “Operation Midway Blitz”, resulting in over 1,000 arrests. “I am profoundly concerned with what has been happening over the last week since I entered this order,” Ellis said, pressing Hott to answer questions regarding how many agents are equipped and trained on when to activate body cams.
Specific incidents are what caught Ellis’ eye, including federal agents pursuing and crashing into a vehicle on the Southeast Side. “There’s a reason that the Chicago Police Department has policies about car chases and where they occur, when they need to stop,” Ellis said.
“We are in an urban, densely populated area where crowds are going to converge when there’s a commotion.”
Trump has insisted that Windy City residents are pleading with him for military and National Guard assistance amid claims of high crime due to an influx of illegal immigrants. “And the people of Chicago are walking around with MAGA hats. You have women, beautiful Black women walking around with MAGA hats,” he said during a speech from the White House.
“Please let the President in and we don’t care how he does it. They’re not interested in the National Guard, or Army, Navy…bring ’em in. Bring in the Marines. They just want the crime to stop.”
But moves from Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson say otherwise. Inciting “ICE Free Zones,” Johnson signed an executive order limiting federal immigration agents from staging enforcement actions in schools, libraries, parks, and various city-owned spaces.
Homeland Security Attorney Sean Skedzieiewski pushed back on the judge’s claims, saying she doesn’t have all the facts straight and that she shouldn’t believe her own eyes, saying that some incident reports are inaccurate. He also added that not all the agents have been instructed to use their body cameras in some areas, like the Chicago Area of Responsibility.
To help rectify the situation, Ellis believes cameras would provide evidence to support how agents are handling confrontations with protesters and alleged immigrants. Just days before her body camera order, she mandated that agents must wear badges and banned them from using specific riot control techniques against peaceful protesters and journalists, but she noticed some orders aren’t being adhered to. “I’m having concerns about my order being followed,” the judge said.
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