A federal judge in Chicago on Thursday issued an extensive injunction restricting federal agents' use of force, saying Thursday that a top Border Patrol official leading an immigration crackdown repeatedly lied about threats posed by protesters and reporters.

The preliminary injunction came in response to a lawsuit filed by news outlets and protesters who allege federal agents have used excessive force during the operation that has netted more than 3,000 arrests and led to heated clashes across the nation’s third-largest city and its many suburbs.

“I see little reason for the use of force that the federal agents are currently using,” said U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis. “I don’t find defendants’ version of events credible."

The order restricts agents from using certain riot control weapons, such as tear gas and pepper balls, “unless such force is objectively necessary” to prevent “an immediate threat.”

It also bars agents from using physical force, including shoving protesters and journalists to the ground, and it requires agents to give two warnings before using riot control weapons.

Ellis said her order will prevent the “chilling of First Amendment right."

A Department of Homeland Security official said in a statement that DHS plans to appeal the ruling, calling it “an extreme act by an activist judge that risks the lives and livelihoods of law enforcement officers.”

The Chicago area crackdown, part of the Trump administration's growing federal intervention in Democratic strongholds, has triggered a litany of court action, including forcing improvements at a federal immigration facility activists say is a de facto detention center and blocking a National Guard deployment.

Thursday's ruling largely mirrors an earlier temporary order that required agents to wear badges and banned them from using certain riot-control techniques, such as tear gas, against peaceful protesters and journalists.

After repeatedly chastising federal officials for not following her previous orders, she added a requirement for body cameras.

Bovino —head of a Border Patrol sector in El Centro, California — has repeatedly defended agents' use of force, while also dodging questions about Border Patrol agents tactics. He oversees nearly 230 agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection that have been in the Chicago area.