Politics
Chicago City Council Committee Calls on U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros to Resign
(Department of Justice, Capitol News Illinois)
A key Chicago City Council Committee Tuesday called on U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros to resign, saying he had lost the “public confidence” necessary to serve as the top federal prosecutor in Chicago.
The City Council’s Ethics and Government Oversight Committee’s endorsement sends the nonbinding resolution authored by Ald. Mike Rodriguez (22nd Ward) that slams Boutros’ for botching the “Broadview Six” case, sparking a mass exodus of prosecutors, allowing grand jury “irregularities,” and breaches of trust with judges to the full City Council for a final vote on July 15.
Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38th Ward) was the only member of the committee to vote against the measure calling for Boutros’ resignation. Sposato is one of two members of the City Council who are not members of the Democratic Party.
Rodriguez said he did not “lightly” call for Boutros to resign, but said he had no choice but to act because of the “continued erosion of trust and confidence” in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.
“Public confidence in the just system is not optional. It is essential,” Rodriguez said.
While a spokesperson for Boutros did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WTTW News, he has so far defied demands for his resignation.
Unless he loses the support of President Donald Trump, there is no clear mechanism to remove Boutros from office. Boutros was appointed to serve as the U.S. attorney in Chicago indefinitely by a panel of federal judges in July 2025 after he was selected by Trump.
If the City Council adopts the resolution, it will join U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and the majority of Chicago’s congressional delegation in calling on Boutros, who has not been confirmed by the U.S. Senate, to step down.
Much of the criticism of Boutros began after his office charged nearly three dozen people with crimes during a series of aggressive immigration raids that the Trump administration called “Operation Midway Blitz.”
Many were charged with crimes for protesting and resisting efforts by immigration agents to detain hundreds of people they believed to be in the country illegally. Nearly all of those cases unraveled soon after being brought, records show.
Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th Ward), whose chief of staff Cat Sharp was charged as part of the Broadview Six case before having all charges dismissed against her, said Boutros’ actions altered the course of the lives of those caught in his crosshairs.
“It is clear that Boutros needs to resign and step down, just to add the confidence back,” Vasquez said. “It can’t be stated how much it actually affects different people’s lives to be affected this way, and it shows a callousness, a disregard for freedom of speech and a cruelty that should never be part of the judicial system.”
Along with Sharp, Oak Park Village Board Trustee Brian Straw, former 9th District congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, her campaign staffer Andre Martin, Democratic Committeeperson Michael Rabbitt and musician Joselyn Walsh, were charged following a confrontation on Sept. 26 between protesters and federal agents outside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s west suburban processing facility.
Prosecutors alleged the defendants were part of a group that surrounded a government vehicle, “with the intent to hinder and impede” a federal agent from proceeding to the Broadview facility and “discharging the duties of his office.” According to the initial indictment, the protesters “banged aggressively” on the vehicle’s windows and hood and broke one of its mirrors and a rear windshield wiper.
Unsealed transcripts from the grand jury proceedings in that case last October revealed Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg excused skeptical grand jurors, admitted speaking with grand jurors outside of the hearings and “vouched” for the merits of the allegations against the defendants.
Boutros denied knowing of that alleged misconduct until late April, but defense attorneys have since accused the U.S. Attorney of a cover-up amid their longstanding belief that the charges were politically motivated.
Beyond the Broadview case, the alleged misconduct led to the dismissal of more charges in a separate COVID-19 fraud case presented by Mecklenburg to the same grand jury.
WTTW News’ Matt Masterson contributed to this report.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
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