A federal judge on Monday said the top Border Patrol agent in the ongoing immigration crackdown in the Chicago area must sit down to answer questions about agents' use of force during those operations, despite her order to use discretion when using chemical agents on protesters and journalists.

The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of journalists, protesters, and clergy against the Trump administration, accusing federal agents of using excessive force and deploying chemical agents against peaceful protesters and journalists covering protests.

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said she was ordering depositions of Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino, Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Daniel Parra, and former ICE Chicago Field Office Director Russell Hott, allowing the plaintiffs attorneys to question them for up to two hours each regarding federal agents' use of force in the Chicago immigration enforcement operation.

Ellis said the questions in those depositions will be limited to agents' tactics in the field during Operation Midway Blitz, not to the reasoning for the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in the Chicago area.

Her ruling came after she spent hours questioning two other top immigration officials – Customs and Border Protection deputy incident commander Kyle Harvick and ICE deputy field office director Shawn Byers

Ellis is trying to determine if federal agents have violated her rulings limiting the use of force against protesters and journalists. She had ordered agents to stop dispersing peaceful crowds and banned the use of tear gas on people who aren't a threat.

Havrick explained why he felt agents were justified in deploying tear gas on Oct. 12 during an immigration enforcement mission in Albany Park, saying neighbors locked arms in protest, adding "first of all that scene was an enforcement action. This wasn't a planned protest."

"The longer you loiter on a scene, if they're just protesting our presence there, that's fine. But if others come … the situation gets more and more dangerous the longer we're there," he added.

Havrick also described an incident on Oct. 14, when a car chase by Border Patrol agents led to a protest on the city's Southeast Side. Border Patrol agents also deployed tear gas during a tense standoff in that incident.

The judge also questioned Ellis about the use of force outside the ICE processing facility in Broadview, and what happens when an agent uses force - specifically who reviews such reports. Byers said, while ICE agents guarding the facility report to him, he hasn't seen any of those reports, which was concerning to Ellis.

Ellis also raised concerns about an order she issued requiring immigration agents in Chicago to use body cameras.

Havrick said of the 201 Border Patrol agents operating in the Chicago area, all of them are equipped with body cameras. But Byers said none of the 85 ICE agents working in the Chicago area have cameras. Byers said Congress did not appropriate money for ICE to extend a body camera program started under the Biden administration.

Ellis wants to see body camera footage from some of the recent incidents when federal agents used chemical agents or other physical force in the Chicago area.

Meantime, she allowed the depositions of Bovino and other top immigration officials to be held before the next hearing in the case on Nov. 5.