Group Calls on Illinois AG to Open Probe Into 'Unlawful Actions of Federal Agents' in Chicago
"When federal officials become the perpetrators of violence and illegality, it falls to the states to defend the rule of law,” said a lawyer at Free Speech for People.
A legal advocacy group requested on Monday that the Illinois officials open criminal investigations into the "unlawful" conduct of federal agents deployed to Chicago by President Donald Trump.
Free Speech For People, a national pro-democracy nonprofit, called on state Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke, and Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling to probe what it called "an escalating pattern of criminal activity by federal agents" over the past two months of Trump's "Operation Midway Blitz," which was launched in early September, and which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says has resulted in the arrests of more than 1,500 people.
The group highlights several incidents of what they called "military-style operations" carried out across the Chicago area by agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and others.
Agents have shot at least two Chicago residents—a 38-year-old Mexican father of two, Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, and a 30-year-old anti-ICE protester and US citizen, Marimar Martinez—with DHS accusing each of ramming their car into officers. In both cases, those accounts would later be called into question by body camera and other footage.
Elsewhere, agents who rappelled from military helicopters would conduct an overnight raid on a South Shore apartment building, where they indiscriminately broke down residents' doors, smashed furniture and belongings, and dragged dozens of them, including children, into U-Haul vans, where some were detained for hours.
The letter details cases of what appears to be overt racial profiling. It notes that Gregory Bovino, the commander of the border patrol operation in Chicago, had suggested that people were being detained based on "how they look" and seemed to hint that the white reporter he spoke to would be less likely to be arrested than others.
In one case, a Latina US citizen, 44-year-old Maria Greeley, was detained at her workplace and held with zip ties for an hour, while officers insisted her passport—which she always carries with her in case of arrest by immigration authorities—was "fake," because she "doesn't look like" her last name was Greeley.
Others have been attacked for protesting or attempting to document ICE raids. Outside the ICE detention facility in the suburb of Broadview, the group said officers' conduct has been "especially brazen."
The facility, where hundreds of detainees are held in reportedly squalid conditions, has been the flashpoint for protests across the city. Many have been met with violence from federal officers, including Pastor David Black, who was shot in the head with a pepper ball while praying outside the facility.
And after being told by Kristi Noem that she and Trump were “sick” of the way protesters were “speaking” about federal law enforcement and that there should be “consequences,” Bovino led a force that fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters and journalists in the state’s designated free speech area outside the ICE facility.
Others have been arrested simply for attempting to document and question ICE's actions during arrest. Alderwoman Jessie Fuentes, who is Puerto Rican, was handcuffed by officers after demanding to know if officers had a warrant for a man they were attempting to detain in a hospital emergency room. In another case, officers broke through the gate of a cemetery to detain two US citizens who were filming their activity, which is protected under the First Amendment.
"These are not law-enforcement operations; they are acts of political violence," said Courtney Hostetler, Free Speech For People's legal director. "President Trump and his agents are using the power of the federal government to kidnap residents, terrorize communities, and attack people for exercising their First Amendment rights. State officials have both the power and the duty to act."
Though the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution limits the ability of states to impede federal law enforcement, Ben Clements, the group's chairman and senior legal adviser, said "federal agents do not have a license to commit crimes."
The group noted that the police chief of Broadview, Thomas Mills, has already initiated three criminal investigations into ICE officers for making false 911 calls to his office, striking protesters with their cars, and shooting a pepper ball at CBS News Chicago reporter Asal Rezaei's vehicle outside the facility.
"When federal officials become the perpetrators of violence and illegality, it falls to the states to defend the rule of law," said Ben Horton, counsel at Free Speech For People. "Illinois must not wait for and, with this lawless administration, cannot rely on Washington to police itself."
The group argued that not only should agents accused of crimes be charged, but that criminal liability extends to Trump and his senior officials who have ordered agents to detain as many people as possible.
"The brutality and illegality of these operations are a feature, not a bug," the letter says. "They are designed to crush dissent and spread fear among President Trump's perceived political enemies and marginalized communities."
