CHICAGO (AP) — Witnesses in a Chicago courtroom described Wednesday being hit with tear gas and claims by others that they were struck with rubber bullets and other objects as part of excessive force by authorities on protesters during demonstrations over the detainment of immigrants and federal immigration policies.

A federal judge is hearing testimony Wednesday during a preliminary injunction hearing in a lawsuit suit filed by news outlets and protesters.

Brendan Curran, a priest and co-founder of Priests for Justice for Immigrants, testified that he prayed for many years in front of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, a suburb of Chicago, but that the area now has become an “utterly militarized zone.”

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis has already ordere

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