Crime & Law
Illinois Commission Details Federal Agents’ ‘Illegal and Violent Conduct’ in Final Report on ‘Operation Midway Blitz’
Video: Joining “Chicago Tonight” are Ruben Castillo, former chief judge for the Northern District of Illinois and chair of the Illinois Accountability Commission; and Patricia Brown Holmes, an attorney and vice chair of the Illinois Accountability Commission who was a Cook County judge, assistant U.S. attorney and assistant state’s attorney. (Produced by Andrew Montequin)
Federal immigration agents engaged in unconstitutional uses of force including “extreme physical force, indiscriminate use of chemical agents, shootings, beatings, and other violent acts” while White House officials routinely lied to conceal the motivations behind “Operation Midway Blitz,” an Illinois panel has found.
The Illinois Accountability Commission on Thursday published its final report after months investigating and gathering evidence including witness testimony, video footage and first-hand accounts of the alleged abuse carried out by federal agents during the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement in and around Chicago last fall.
“The record is substantial, corroborated across multiple sources, and developed through independent investigation,” commission chair and former judge Ruben Castillo said in a statement. “It demonstrates patterns of illegal and violent conduct by federal immigration enforcement agents during Operation Midway Blitz and the resulting serious and lasting consequences for individuals, families, and communities across Illinois.”
Gov. JB Pritzker established the Accountability Commission in October, tasking it with creating a “public record of abuses” committed by the president, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, border czar Tom Homan and Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino.
“The evidence led straight up to the White House,” said Patricia Brown Holmes, a former prosecutor who is vice chair of the Accountability Commission. “It started from the top with executive orders, went straight through federal agencies, and came all the way down to the streets of the city of Chicago.”
The commission report outlined a series of policy recommendations, including prohibiting “roving” patrols; ending warrantless arrests; halting the use of paramilitary tactics; and requiring federal agents to wear body-worn cameras.
The report also recommends discipline for ICE and Border Patrol agents who committed misconduct.
Throughout a series of public hearings, witnesses detailed the terror and fear they experienced as federal agents sought to “spread fear” in residential neighborhoods, the report found.
“They stopped people for questioning based on how they looked, how they spoke or where they worked,” the report states. “They arrested people without probable cause, often without asking any questions about their immigration status before placing them in handcuffs.
“Agents on these roving patrols donned face masks, military fatigues, body armor, and military-style weapons,” the report continued. “They drove unmarked cars and refused to identify themselves. They recorded protesters and legal observers to intimidate them from documenting their activities. They used physical force and tear gas indiscriminately.”
The commission said it submitted its report to prosecutors in Cook and Kane counties, as well as police agencies in Chicago, Evanston, Franklin Park and Elgin for further investigation.
The report comes as a Cook County judge is set to rule next month on a request by local officials and community organizations to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate abuse allegations carried out during Midway Blitz.
Thus far, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has resisted those efforts, saying her office has not been referred any cases by local law enforcement and that she lacks the legal authority to initiate criminal investigations into alleged misconduct by federal immigration agents.
Numerous calls for criminal charges have been made after federal agents killed Silverio Villegas González during a traffic stop in suburban Franklin Park and critically wounded Marimar Martinez in Brighton Park in separate incidents during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge last fall.
“Our hope is that law enforcement agencies will review this evidence and take any steps in their power to deliver justice to Illinoisans impacted by Operation Midway Blitz, including Marimar Martinez and Silverio Villegas Gonzales,” Pritzker said in a statement. “We can’t let people forget the atrocities that happened here in our cities and the erosion of our democracy happening in the United States.”
O’Neill Burke on Thursday said her office takes “any reports of harm seriously,” but reiterated her stance that her prosecutors can only bring charges after receiving a completed investigation from a law enforcement agency.
“There is no doubt that Operation Midway Blitz has traumatized and harmed our communities,” O’Neill Burke said in a statement. “We look forward to receipt of the full report and will work with our local, state, and county law enforcement to review the material.”
Martinez, who was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent last October, testified this week before the commission, which found reasonable cause to believe the agent who shot her did so without justification and that evidence was deliberately tampered with.
Martinez was initially charged with assaulting the agents, but federal prosecutors dropped that case weeks later.
Martinez’s attorney, Christopher Parente, has said evidence shows Charles Exum — the agent who shot Martinez — lied to federal investigators when he claimed that he fired five shots through Martinez’s windshield as she drove directly at him.
According to Parente, the government’s evidence shows one bullet hit the rear passenger window and another bullet traveled from the rear of the vehicle to the front.
Commission officials pointed to the shooting of Martinez and other allegations in finding reasonable cause to believe federal agents should be formally investigated.
Castillo, who is among the coalition seeking a special prosecutor, said Thursday that if O’Neill Burke doesn’t want to investigate these allegations, she should “step aside” and let someone else do it.
“If she believes she cannot do this, … she should step aside like State’s Attorney Alvarez did, and let a special prosecutor be appointed to investigate and potentially prosecute this,” Castillo said.
Andrew Montequin contributed to this report.
