Chicagoans Alleging Crimes By ICE Agents Seek Police Help After Feds ‘Fail To Act’

NORTH CENTER — Residents who say they were victims of misconduct during Operation Midway Blitz — along with lawyers and immigration advocates in Chicago —escalated a months-long push for local accountability Monday by filing nine police reports alleging crimes by immigration agents.

The reports were filed at the Chicago Police Department’s Area 3 Headquarters at 2452 W. Belmont Ave., where officers were prepared to take complaints from people who said they were subjected to excessive force, use of chemical agents, unlawful detention and other alleged misconduct during Operation Midway Blitz, the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign last fall.

Numerous police reports claiming misconduct by immigration agents have been filed by residents since the fall, but Monday’s coordinated effort was intended to make the push for local investigations harder to ignore, Cook County Commissioner Jessica Vásquez said.

“We want to ensure that the public is aware that we are filing these reports. We want there to be transparency around this process and so we are coordinating with CPD and we let the state’s attorney’s office know that we are filing because we want to be taken seriously,” Vásquez said.

The allegations detailed in the police reports range from assault and battery to murder and attempted murder, said Brian Orozco, an attorney for some of those that filed reports Monday.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration Customs and Enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol, called the new police reports “nothing more than a political stunt by Illinois sanctuary politicians.” 

“Federal officers acting in the course of their duties can only be investigated by other federal agencies. The states do not have the authority to run such an investigation,” the Homeland Security spokesperson said.

The filings come after the city of Chicago has taken steps to establish a formal process for documenting and investigating alleged misconduct by federal immigration agents. Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order in January directing the Chicago Police Department to document suspected violations by federal agents and lay groundwork for potential prosecution. The department finalized a revised policy in July requiring officers to take reports from people alleging federal agents’ misconduct and track those complaints. 

The revised policy came after months of criticism that Johnson’s order had not translated to actual investigations.

The coalition is asking the Chicago Police Department to investigate the allegations and, where appropriate, pursue misdemeanor charges. For allegations that could constitute felonies, they want completed police investigations sent to Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s office for prosecution. 

Burke’s office said in a statement that it is “committed to supporting these investigations, including the ongoing Illinois State Police investigation into the death of Silverio Villegas González, in accordance with our protocol,” referring to a man shot and killed by a federal immigration agent during a traffic stop last September in Franklin Park.

“No one is above the law — including federal agents — and the [Cook County state’s attorney’s office] will not hesitate to prosecute any case when it is supported by the evidence and the law,” the statement said.

A Chicago Police Department spokesperson said in a statement that the department will review the reports “to determine whether there was a violation of local or state law. Incidents determined to be in violation of the law will be recorded on a case report and investigated in a manner consistent with department directives.” In some cases, the department had already generated its own reports on the incidents.

The effort also comes months after a Cook County judge rejected a petition to appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate alleged abuses by federal immigration agents. The petition had been filed after months of pressure on Burke to investigate the allegations herself; Burke had argued her office did not have the authority to launch such an investigation without law enforcement referral. 

The police reports also follow the Illinois Accountability Commission’s April release of its final report on Operation Midway Blitz, which recommended that Homeland Security conduct timely and transparent internal investigations and restrict agents’ use of force and use of chemical agents.

The accountability commission, created last fall by Gov. JB Pritzker to investigate federal agents’ conduct, referred its final report and underlying evidence to the Chicago Police Department and several other law enforcement agencies, including Burke’s office. 

Marimar Martinez: ‘The Federal Government Has Failed To Act’

Among those who filed police reports Monday were Marimar Martinez, who was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent Charles Exum in Brighton Park last October, and Dayanne Figueroa, who said she was dragged from her car after she collided with federal agents in West Town and then was detained for hours before being released without charges.

“It’s been 10 months since Charles Exum tried to kill me,” Martinez said at the press conference. “The federal government has failed to act or even discipline Charles Exum. They have never contacted me for an interview to explain what happened that day.”

The Homeland Security spokesperson said Exum has been placed on administrative leave. The agency also claimed that Martinez and another driver “ambushed” federal agents with their cars, which “forced” officers to “deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots.”

After the shooting, the department initially said Martinez and another driver “rammed” a Border Patrol vehicle, which “forced” officers to “deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots.”

The feds also claimed Martinez had a gun, but charging documents never mentioned her being armed. The U.S. Attorney’s Office later dropped charges of assault and impeding and interfering with a law enforcement officer against Martinez. She has since filed a lawsuit against the federal government.

Figueroa’s car collided with a vehicle federal agents were driving on Oct. 10 after she dropped her son off at school. The incident was captured on video by witnesses.

The Homeland Security spokesperson said Figueroa used her car to “ram” an agent’s vehicle, leading officers to try to remove her from her car. 

“She violently resisted, kicking two agents and causing injuries. This agitator was arrested for assault on a federal agent,” the spokesperson said. Charges were not filed against Figueroa, according to court records.

Figueroa said the masked, armed agents who stopped her never identified themselves and never told her why she was stopped. 

“I was unarmed and cooperating. Even so, I was beaten, handcuffed and taken from one detention facility to another without knowing who they were, where they were taking me or what was going to happen to me,” Figueroa said Monday. “I was never arrested. I was never charged with any offense. I never received an explanation. I never received an apology. This was an assault and a kidnapping of a U.S. citizen.”

Berto Aguayo, a lawyer who said he filed a police report over being teargassed by agents in Brighton Park following the shooting of Martinez, said the residents filing reports Monday were “doing exactly what citizens are supposed to be doing when they believe a crime has been committed.”

“We are reporting it, we are providing evidence, and we are putting our names behind the allegations,” Aguayo said. “And that takes courage, and when ordinary people have the courage to do their job as citizens, we expect that the people entrusted in enforcing our laws will do their job.”