Politics
‘This is Only the Beginning’: Illinois Accountability Commission Hears First Testimony on Federal Agents’ Use of Force in Chicago
As federal immigration enforcement operations ramp back up around Chicago, a new commission met publicly for the first time Thursday to begin documenting a record of any and all abuses committed by federal agents.
The Illinois Accountability Commission held its first public hearing Thursday in the Little Village neighborhood, where federal agents have repeatedly targeted residents in the predominantly Hispanic neighborhood.
“This is only the beginning,” Rubén Castillo, the commission’s chair and former chief judge for the Northern District of Illinois, said Thursday. “We begin with a simple mission just to tell the truth as to what has occurred and to show what the repercussions have been.”
Gov. JB Pritzker created the commission in October, tasking it with creating a “public record of abuses” committed by the president, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, border czar Tom Homan and Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino.
In doing so, the commission plans to gather video evidence and witness testimony as it works to issue a finalized report by April 2026.
Participation is voluntary as the group cannot compel anyone to testify. It instead serves as an advisory commission that intends to provide guidance and recommendations rather than making legal decisions.
“The images are shocking, impossible to look away from, but more importantly, it’s going to be impossible to forget. And we will not forget,” Castillo said. “This is a historical period that we are going through, but the one thing that we cannot do is to accept this. This cannot be the new normal.”
The hearing comes as Bovino and numerous federal agents returned to the Chicago-area this week to resume aggressive immigration enforcement.
Pritzker has repeatedly asked Illinois residents to record the conduct of immigration agents with cameras and smartphones and post those videos on social media. The commission’s website will allow residents to share those videos with state officials to create a record.
Thursday’s three-hour hearing focused largely on federal agents’ use of “less lethal” chemical weapons such as tear gas and pepper balls.
Rohini Haar, a doctor and lecturer at the University of California-Berkley, testified Thursday about the impact of chemical irritants, telling commissioners that tear gas — which has been banned in warfare but can be used by law enforcement — can affect and injure nearly every part of a person’s body.
“Chemical irritants are inherently indiscriminate,” Haar said. “Once you fire it, there is no saying where the wind blows or who it targets. You cannot control an individual with this and you can’t target it.”
Haar compared the pepper balls used by federal agents to paint balls, but said the pepper balls are harder with a thicker coating and exit a gun barrel at the same speed as a bullet.
Federal agents deployed tear gas in and around Chicago more than a half dozen times since Oct. 3 as part of “Operation Midway Blitz.”
As part of a lawsuit that sought to restrict the use of such weapons, a federal judge last month found agents “indiscriminately” fired tear gas at Chicagoans, tackled them, beat them, struck them with pepper balls and pointed weapons at them.
Haar, who reviewed numerous instances from “Operation Midway Blitz” of agents using chemical weapons against residents, said that each and every case she had seen “of this has been excessive use of force.”
“My conclusion is that, one, the use of force is occurring by and large unjustified,” she said. “And, two, when it is being used, basic protocols that would protect health and limit injuries are not being followed.”
The commission on Thursday also heard testimony from Matt DeMateo, a pastor at the New Life Community Church, who described the aftermath of federal agents tear gassing a family of three, including a 1-year-old girl, who were on their way to shop near 26th Street and Ogden Avenue in Cicero on Nov. 8.
A video taken by a passenger in the family’s car and released by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights showed the distinctive orange mist of pepper spray enveloping the car’s driver and the baby.
“The whole thing is just line-by-line misuse of (chemical) irritants,” Haar said, saying there was no threat presented by the family and agents didn’t check to see if a child was present before deploying the gas.
The driver pulls over into the parking lot at Sam’s Club to frantically wipe away the irritant from his eyes and comforts the baby, who cries as a woman attempts to wipe away the irritant from her face.
DeMateo, who drove the girl’s father to a nearby clinic for treatment after the incident, said the man was hyperventilating, having a panic attack and struggling to breathe.
Commission members said they intend to refer that incident to the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general in hopes it could be investigated sometime in the future.
“They had done nothing wrong,” DeMateo said. “They were not protesting, they were not chasing ICE vehicles, they were just shopping.”
Heather Cherone contributed to this report.
