After leaving the Chicago area in November, United States Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino made an unexpected return on December 16, along with several hundred federal agents and a film crew. Returning to the same aggressive tactics that sparked protests earlier this year, local officials criticized Bovino for using immigration operations as a form of political theater.
In a statement to the Chicago Sun-Times, a spokesperson for Chicago Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson called out agents for arresting people indiscriminately, without arrest warrants, and seemingly for content creation. "This activity is occurring alongside a film crew, which appears to be using these raids to create content at the expense of traumatizing families," said the spokesperson. "The crew's presence turns these operations into a spectacle, showing a disregard for the humanity of those impacted.…These tactics are destabilizing, wrong, and must be condemned."
