Politics
Mayor Johnson Signs Executive Order Designed to Lay ‘Groundwork’ to Prosecute Federal Agents for Actions During Immigration Raids
Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order on Saturday that he said would lay “the groundwork to prosecute Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents for criminal misconduct.”
The order directs members of the Chicago Police Department to document actions by agents with ICE and Border Protection and attempt to identify those responsible for suspected misconduct or criminal violations.
“This evidence will then be preserved, and, at the direction of my office, will be referred to the state’s attorney’s office for potential prosecution,” Johnson said, while surrounded by supporters in his ceremonial office at City Hall.
Read the full executive order here.
Since federal agents shot and killed Renee Nicole Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24 in Minneapolis, Johnson has been under intense pressure to step up efforts to rein in the aggressive immigration raids launched by President Donald Trump as part of the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history.
“Did anybody in this room imagine that we would have a federal government that would not be accountable to its own rules and the Constitution itself?” Johnson said. “We’re constantly evolving as we continue to respond to this unprecedented moment.”
In most cases, state and local law enforcement officials are prohibited from charging federal officials for reasonable conduct that occurred during the course of their official duties.
“From the beginning, Chicago has shown that we are not afraid to go first,” Johnson said. “This executive order will make Chicago the first city in the country to set the groundwork to prosecute ICE and Border Patrol agents for criminal misconduct. Because we need to send a clear message, if the federal government will not hold these rogue actors accountable, then Chicago will do everything in our power to bring these agents to justice.”
CPD brass have 30 days to develop a policy to implement the order, according to a statement from the mayor’s office. A CPD spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WTTW News.
A spokesperson for Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said she “looked forward to reviewing the mayor’s executive order now that we have received it.”
Hours after Johnson’s news conference, O’Neill Burke took to social media to publicly rebuke Johnson for telling reporters her office supported the executive order and emphasizing that her office had not seen it until Saturday morning.
“We do not provide legal approval of any matter until we’ve reviewed it,” O’Neill Burke wrote. “On such a critical issue, it’s important we get it right.”
O’Neill Burke’s office took no action after federal agents shot and killed Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez on Sept. 12 and after federal agents shot Marimar Martinez five times on Oct. 4.
Villegas-Gonzalez was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Franklin Park after dropping his children at day care.
Federal agents alleged Villegas-González dragged an officer with his vehicle while attempting to flee, seriously injuring an officer.
However, local police body camera videos showed the agent who shot Villegas-González walking around afterward and dismissing his own injuries as “nothing major.”
Martinez was charged with a felony after federal officials accused her of trying to ram agents with her vehicle. The case was dismissed after videos emerged that Martinez’s attorneys said showed an agent steering his vehicle into Martinez’s truck.
After Martinez was shot, Snelling said his officers “cannot and will not” arrest federal agents conducting immigration enforcement operations in Chicago and implored residents not to interfere with those efforts.
“If you box them in with vehicles, it is reasonable for them to believe that they are being ambushed and that this could end in a deadly situation and it’s reasonable for them to use force based on those conditions,” Snelling said Oct. 6, before it was clear there was no evidence Martinez did anything wrong during the altercation. “Do not box in any law enforcement officer. You are breaking the law when you’re doing that and you’re putting yourself in danger.”
The state’s attorney’s office can only bring charges based on evidence gathered by police.
There is no evidence that either CPD or Franklin Park police investigated either shooting.
Johnson said his order directed CPD to investigate incidents that have already occurred.
O’Neill Burke declined to answer questions from WTTW News earlier this week about why her office was not part of a coalition of other local prosecutors determined to bring charges against federal law enforcement officers who violate state laws.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who founded the Project for the Fight Against Federal Overreach, praised Johnson in a statement released by the mayor’s office, saying he had “stepped forward at a critical moment to defend his residents, protect local authority, and insist that federal power be exercised within the bounds of the law.”
The coalition is to be known as FAFO, a profane reference to what happens when bad decisions result in adverse consequences, as first reported by the New York Times.
Chicago will be prepared for the federal government to renew its efforts to deport undocumented Chicagoans in March, Johnson said.
“We will continue to learn from and work with other cities across the country, as we all confront this moment,” Johnson said. “Chicago can serve as a model of nonviolent resistance that has the power to arouse the conscience of the nation.”
Note: This article was published Jan. 31, 2026, and updated with video Feb. 2, 2026.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
