Crime & Law

Toni Preckwinkle Urging Cook County Prosecutors to Pursue Criminal Charges Against Federal Immigration Agents

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is calling on local prosecutors to pursue “all available charges” related to the killing of Silverio Villegas González, a suburban father who was fatally shot by federal immigration agents outside Chicago last year.

Preckwinkle on Thursday issued a statement urging Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke to act “swiftly, proactively and transparently” in order to ensure accountability after agents have repeatedly used “excessive force” against unarmed civilians.

“Federal agents operating in Cook County and across the country have increasingly relied on aggressive and reckless tactics that endanger lives and violate fundamental civil and human rights,” Preckwinkle said in her statement. “These actions undermine community safety, erode public trust, and threaten the rule of law.”

The push for criminal charges comes five months after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Villegas González during a traffic stop shortly after he dropped off his kids at day care in suburban Franklin Park.

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.”

Preckwinkle is currently running for reelection as board president. Chicago Ald. Brendan Reilly is challenging her in the Democratic primary next month. 

Preckwinkle’s comments come weeks after Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson issued an executive order directing 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.

O’Neill Burke has pushed back against that order, specifically a section requiring CPD supervisors to preserve evidence of suspected wrongdoing by federal immigration agents and “at the direction of the mayor’s office, make a referral of felony matters to the Cook County State’s Attorney.”

O’Neill Burke “shares deep concerns over the recent actions of ICE agents that have created chaos, fear and irreparable harm in our communities” and is “committed to doing all we can under the law to support and review law enforcement investigations of that conduct and prosecute when appropriate,” according to a statement from her spokesperson.

Johnson has since said his office will not be referring those misconduct allegations to O’Neill Burke’s office.

In her statement, Preckwinkle also referenced the shooting of Marimar Martinez — a 30-year-old Montessori teacher who was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in Brighton Park last October — as another case in which O’Neill Burke’s office should consider criminal charges.

Martinez survived and was initially charged with assaulting federal agents, though prosecutors abruptly dismissed that case weeks later. New evidence released this week also undermined the narrative spread by the Department of Homeland Security that Martinez was a “domestic terrorist” who “ambushed” and “rammed” the agents with her vehicle, her attorney said.

Martinez’s attorney has also said it appears federal prosecutors in Indiana have already launched a criminal investigation into the agent who shot Martinez.

“No officer and no agency is above the law,” Preckwinkle said. “We support thorough law enforcement investigations wherever federal agents have violated the law.”

Heather Cherone contributed to this report.

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