Special Prosecutor Sought for ICE Abuses in Cook County

A coalition of nearly 250 elected officials, faith leaders, and community organizations is demanding a special prosecutor to investigate alleged crimes committed by federal immigration agents during Operation Midway Blitz, intensifying pressure on Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke to act.

Chicago law firm Loevy and Loevy submitted a petition Thursday asking a Cook County Circuit Court judge to appoint a special prosecutor to the court’s criminal division. The petition argues that O’Neill Burke’s “inaction in the face of clear, premeditated crimes abandons her duties to the People of Cook County.”

About 30 people representing the petition’s 243 signatories gathered at Federal Plaza in the Loop Thursday afternoon to make their case publicly.

“The State’s Attorney cannot represent the people of Cook County while turning a blind eye to egregious acts of violence that federal agents have inflicted on them in her jurisdiction,” the petition reads.

The petition cites several alleged incidents involving federal immigration agents, including the fatal shooting of Silverio Villegas González in Franklin Park last September and the non-fatal shooting of Marimar Martinez in Brighton Park the following October. It also points to multiple instances of tear gas and pepper balls being deployed against protesters, including at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview.

Juan Pablo Herrera, board president of Palenque LSNA and a member of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, spoke at Thursday’s news conference and gave voice to the frustration many in the room were feeling.

“People are tired of hearing that nothing can be done. People are tired of leaders pointing to obstacles instead of solutions. People are tired of empty promises,” Herrera said.

The list of signatories includes a notable cross-section of Chicago’s City Council. Alds. Jessie Fuentes (26th), Byron Sigcho Lopez (25th), Julia Ramirez (12th), Michael D. Rodríguez (22nd), Anthony Quezada (35th), Jeylu B. Gutierrez (14th), Andre Vasquez (40th), and Maria Hadden (49th) all signed on.

Thursday’s petition is not the first legal push demanding accountability. In January, attorney Sheryl Weikal filed a separate lawsuit petitioning the Cook County Circuit Court to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate alleged unlawful conduct by federal immigration agents. Weikal is also a signatory on the Loevy and Loevy petition, connecting the two efforts.

The drumbeat of institutional pressure on O’Neill Burke has been building for months. At the start of February, 17 Illinois elected officials signed a letter demanding she investigate both the death of Villegas González and the shooting of Martinez. Weeks later, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s office released a statement calling on O’Neill Burke to take action.

The timing of Thursday’s news conference carries its own weight. Families of those shot, community members, and organizers stood together at Federal Plaza, a location symbolic of federal authority in the city, to deliver a unified message: the communities most affected by these incidents are not moving on, and they are not going away.

For neighborhoods like Brighton Park and Franklin Park, the stakes of this legal fight are deeply personal. These are communities where residents shop at the same grocery stores, attend the same churches, and send their children to the same schools as the people named in this petition. The alleged violence did not happen in the abstract. It happened on residential streets, and it has rattled the daily rhythms of people who were already navigating one of the most aggressive federal immigration enforcement campaigns the city has seen.

The coalition’s demand centers on a core argument: that the State’s Attorney has a legal and moral obligation to investigate alleged crimes committed within Cook County, regardless of who committed them. Federal agents, the petition contends, do not operate above that jurisdiction.

Whether a judge will grant the appointment of a special prosecutor is still an open question. But the coalition of nearly 250 voices that gathered and signed their names this week has made clear that pressure on the State’s Attorney’s office is not easing. If anything, it is growing.