Crime & Law

‘Do Your Job’: Chicagoans File Police Reports Alleging Abuse by Federal Agents During ‘Midway Blitz’

Marimar Martinez, the Chicago woman who was shot by a Border Patrol agent five times in Brighton Park, joined others in filing police reports about the alleged abuse they suffered from federal agents during “Operation Midway Blitz” last fall.

Martinez was joined by several others Monday at the Chicago Police Department’s 19th District Station to file police reports in hopes that local authorities can begin investigating unlawful conduct allegedly committed by federal immigration agents.

“The federal government has made clear there will be no investigation into these (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and Border Patrol shootings,” Martinez said. “If the federal government refuses to act, state and local authorities must do so.”

Nine people filed police reports Monday, according to Cook County Commissioner Jessica Vásquez, who said they chose to do this together in order to make their call for accountability “both public and impossible to ignore.”

The filings come months after the Illinois Accountability Commission detailed a “public record of abuses” committed by Trump officials after federal immigration agents repeatedly used physical force and tear gas against Chicagoans throughout the city.

That report found 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.”

Community advocates for months have pushed for criminal charges to be filed against federal agents, including those who shot Martinez and killed Silverio Villegas González during a separate traffic stop in suburban Franklin Park last year.

But Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has maintained that her office is unable to bring charges unless first presented with evidence by law enforcement.

After a Cook County judge declined to assign a special prosecutor to investigate these cases, local activists and public officials called on victims to file police reports with the hope that authorities could collect and present evidence to O’Neill Burke’s office for prosecution.

“Today we have three words for the Cook County State’s Attorney and any other investigatory body: Do your job,” community activist Berto Aguayo, who himself filed a police report after he said he was tear gassed by agents last year, said Monday. “Take these reports seriously, following the evidence, investigate without fear or favor because no federal uniform places anyone above the law.”

In May, the Illinois State Police launched an investigation into the killing of Villegas González, and O’Neill Burke’s office said it would play a “supportive role.” Thus far, no charges stemming from a CPD investigation have been filed.

Martinez was shot during an incident in Brighton Park last October. She was initially accused of ramming her vehicle into a Border Patrol vehicle and charged with assault, but those charges were later dropped by federal prosecutors.

Her attorney later released evidence he said showed the agent swerved into Martinez’s vehicle and later lied to federal investigators when he claimed that he fired five shots through Martinez’s windshield as she drove directly at him.

She has testified about her shooting both before Congress and the Illinois Accountability Commission and has repeatedly called for the agents involved in her shooting to be held accountable.

“Today I am demanding our local and state officials to do their job and protect their citizens from these criminal conducts that ICE and Border Patrol have inflicted upon their victims, our brothers and sisters,” she said. “I pray that our local and state leaders will send a message that starting here in Chicago, the people have spoken and our local and state government will protect our community.”

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