A judge on Thursday hit the Trump administration with a massive opinion in which she laid out numerous lies from DHS.
Politico's Josh Gerstein reported earlier in the day that Judge Sara Ellis issued a "233(!)-page opinion backing the now-stayed preliminary injunction she issued limiting federal tactics in response to anti-ICE protests in Illinois."
Chicago Tribune reporter Jason Meisner took a look at the ruling and noted that, "Judge Sara Ellis says in her injunction ruling that body camera footage showed an immigration agent using ChatGPT to 'compile a narrative' for his report on an encounter with protesters."
He added, "Ellis also said [U.S. Border Patrol chief Gregory] Bovino was 'evasive' over the three days of his deposition, 'either providing 'cute' responses' or 'outright lying.'"
That led to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow with American Immigration Council, chiming in with, "WOW. Judge Ellis finds that Chief Bovino gave 'not credible' testimony, stating that he 'appeared evasive over the three days of his deposition, either providing 'cute' responses ... or outright lying.' She highlights how he denied tackling someone even though it was on video."
He added, "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," before he flagged "some of the most egregious ones."
"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!" he then noted.
After highlighting several other examples, Reichlin-Melnick added, "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," he then concluded.
David French shared that thread of inconsistencies and wrote, "Please read this thread. The administration is fundamentally dishonest."
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. https://t.co/Rfi6YSen2Gpic.twitter.com/dl4j7M5S99
— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) November 20, 2025