What does a parent do with a child who stubbornly refuses to follow the rules every day?

You could do worse than set up a daily meeting, say, about 6 p.m. "to hear about how the day went."

It's an ordinary step for a mother or father to take, but an absolutely extraordinary one for a federal district judge to mandate, particularly when the recalcitrant party is the United States of America.

Yet that is precisely what happened this week in U.S. Federal District Judge Sara Ellis' courtroom.

It would almost be funny, if it weren't in fact so deadly serious. This is about what's going on right now in Chicago.

U.S. Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino, who headed the violent immigration crackdown in Los Angeles, has assumed the same role, and perhaps even greater notoriety, in Chicago. What has been going on outside Ellis' courtroom led her to issue a temporary restraining order to protect non-violent protestors against excessive use of force. Ellis has been telling Bovino much the same thing as he was told by federal judges in California. Don't tear gas people without warning them to disperse twice first. Don't use excessive force. Wear ID badges so people know who they're dealing with. Wear and collect body cam footage so there will be no doubt about whether excessive force was used.

The plaintiffs in the case brought in front of Ellis had asked the judge to grant a motion barring the Border Patrol from using tear gas. Ellis decided to keep the motion in her back pocket as she begins her nightly meetings with Bovino. "I know my lane," she said. "And I will stay in my lane. But I'm also not afraid to enforce this TRO. If they are using tear gas, they better be able to back it up. And if they can't, then they will lose that as something they can use."

In fact, as the judge pointed out to Bovino, and as the plaintiffs insisted, tear gas had been used on children in one neighborhood gathering for a Halloween event at school. That would have to be reported by Bovino in the nightly meetings, which is the whole point of deterrence. Or as the judge put it to Bovino, "I suspect, that now knowing where we are and that he understands what I expect, I don't know that we're going to see a whole lot of tear gas deployed in the next week." The meetings are scheduled to take place every weekday evening between now and Nov. 5, the date for the hearing on a preliminary injunction imposing further limits on the Border Patrol.

Ellis left nothing to chance. "Halloween is on Friday. I do not want to get violation reports from the plaintiffs that show that agents are out and about on Halloween, where kids are present and tear gas is being deployed."

Judge Sara Ellis is my hero for the week, along with the other federal judges who are desperately trying to hold the line, constitutionally speaking, on the Border Patrol. It is judges like Sara Ellis who are standing right now between us and a police state. Only cowards would use tear gas to disperse a group of children. What does it say that we need a courageous federal judge to stop President Donald Trump's storm troopers, and to treat them like the badly behaved children they emulate.

I assume Bovino considered Ellis a bad draw, as judges go. She is an Obama appointee, who spent a career in public service and criminal defense work. She happens to be an immigrant herself; she was born in Canada, her parents were Jamaican and she became a naturalized citizen at 15. Does this mean that she has empathy for those who are being ruthlessly hunted down by Bovino and his band? I certainly hope so. Does it confirm the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion on the federal bench? I certainly think so. I'm just glad that she is there, and doing an extraordinary job with Bovino.

To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Molly Hutson at Unsplash