Thread by @ReichlinMelnick

THREAD: Judge Ellis is the first federal judge to review extensive body cam video of DHS's actions in Chicago. She finds that DHS *repeatedly* misled the public and made claims that were disproven by agents' own videos.

I'll go through some of the most egregious ones here.

On October 28, @DHSGov claimed that days earlier "rioters" had "shot at agents with commercial artillery shell fireworks," thus forcing agents to deploy tear gas and riot munitions.

Judge Ellis reviewed the video. This was completely false. The explosions were DHS's flashbangs!

@DHSgov DHS claimed that agents were forced to use riot munitions to disperse an "unruly mob" on Sept. 19.

In fact, "the scene [was] quiet," and then "almost immediately and without warning, agents lob flashbang grenades, tear gas, and pepper balls, stating 'fuck yea!' as they do so."

@DHSgov DHS claimed that on September 26, a DHS officer claimed that they were forced to deploy riot munitions because protestors were "becoming increasingly hostile."

In fact, "the BWC video shows that the protesters were simply standing there when agents first deployed any force."

@DHSgov DHS claimed an incident on Oct. 3 showed agents were in danger of being "rammed."

In fact, body cams "suggest[] that the agent drove erratically and brake-checked other motorists in an attempt to force accidents that agents could then use as justifications for deploying force."

@DHSgov Judge Ellis says all these errors add up—"at some point, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to believe almost anything that [DHS] represent[s]."

E.g., a top officer testified protestors had shields with nails in them; except there were no nails and mostly it was carboard.

@DHSgov In another incident, DHS officers wrote in an incident report, which @DHSgov publicized, that protestors had throw a bike at federal agents.

In fact, body cams showed that it was the agents themselves that "actually took a protester's bike and threw it to the side."

@DHSgov In another example of testimony that wasn't backed up by evidence, the head of ICE ERO's Chicago Field Office testified that a protestor had "ripped a beard off an agent's face" and broken part of ICE's building.

When questioned, he admitted he had no evidence of this at all.

@DHSgov Judge Ellis also found that a top CBP leader's testimony was not credible, in part because he admitted that was relying on unreliable "use of force" reports generated by DHS officers — and in a footnote, says video shows an officer asking ChatGPT to help him fill out the report!

@DHSgov When she gets to Gregory Bovino (@CMDROpAtLargeCA), she finds him completely uncredible, and says he was evasive or outright lied multiple times across three days of testimony — and not just any falsehoods, he did this about things which were all captured on video.

@DHSgov @CMDROpAtLargeCA For example, the incident on October 23 where @DHSgov claimed that he was hit in the head with a rock before he deployed tear gas?

Didn't happen. He fired tear gas, and then AFTER, someone threw a rock. He went back and forth on this under oath, repeatedly changing his story.

@DHSgov @CMDROpAtLargeCA What this shows is that @DHSgov's "official version" of events simply cannot be believed. In video after video, claims made by DHS officers or by @DHSgov online were shown not to have occurred at all or to have occurred in a substantially different way than first described.

@DHSgov @CMDROpAtLargeCA This opinion comes on the same day that the DOJ dropped ALL CHARGES against a woman shot by a Border Patrol agent 5 times, who @DHSgov accused of ramming a car agents and pulling a gun on agents.

It strongly suggests they couldn't prove it in court.

@DHSgov @CMDROpAtLargeCA The full decision is here. Notably, the 7th Circuit has temporarily put the decision on hold; not because of any flaws in her factual analysis, but because of concerns that she has imposed requirements that are too broad on DHS. cst.brightspotcdn.com/49/34/daecfb4d… x.com/SeidelContent/…

@DHSgov @CMDROpAtLargeCA Given that DOJ would have be the ones to prosecute, I doubt there will be many. The biggest consequence is that there is now a growing record that Bovino and DHS are not telling the truth, and their claims will get more judicial skepticism going forward.