Illinois Accountability Commission Issues Final Report

Illinois Accountability Commission Issues Final Report

The Commission Submits Referral Letter and Report to Law Enforcement Agencies

Key Points for Illinoisans

• Illinois is the first state in the nation to investigate federal law enforcement misconduct and produce a thorough report of its findings.
  • This task normally falls to the federal government, but they have eliminated internal guardrails, abdicated their responsibility to discipline agents, and are instead lying to excuse unlawful actions.
  • The findings demonstrate patterns of illegal and violent conduct by federal immigration enforcement agents during Operation Midway Blitz.
  • The report also outlines a series of recommendations for federal, state, local and private actors aimed at preventing future misconduct and strengthening accountability.
• The Commission submitted the report and a referral letter to the Cook County State's Attorney, Kane County State's Attorney, Chicago Police Department, Elgin Police Department Evanston Police Department, and Franklin Police Department.

CHICAGO - Today, the Illinois Accountability Commission, housed in the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR), issued its final report in alignment with requirements outlined in Executive Order 2025-06 and submitted the report and a referral letter to the Cook County State's Attorney, Kane County State's Attorney, Chicago Police Department, Evanston Police Department, Franklin Police Department, and Elgin Police Department. This action follows the conclusion of its public hearings that revealed never-before-seen footage and brand-new eyewitness testimony from specific incidents targeting Illinoisans.

"Led by former prosecutors, active attorneys, and experts on law enforcement and immigration, the Commission conducted a thorough investigation of Operation Midway Blitz," said Governor JB Pritzker. "Our hope is that law enforcement agencies will review this evidence and take any steps in their power to deliver justice to Illinoisans impacted by Operation Midway Blitz, including Marimar Martinez and Silverio Villegas Gonzales. We can't let people forget the atrocities that happened here in our cities and the erosion of our democracy happening in the United States."

"The President deployed an entire branch of law enforcement as an instrument of fear. Neighborhoods went silent. Streets emptied. Families were torn apart," said Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton. "This commission is our answer to that injustice. There will come a day when we look back on this moment and know that by putting all of this on the record, we laid the groundwork for justice."

Illinois is the first state in the nation to undertake an effort of this magnitude, and the final report culminates six months of the Commission's work. The Commission conducted 16 in-depth investigations in the Chicagoland area, examined the impact on individuals, and offers policy recommendations to prevent future harm in Illinois. What resulted is the most thorough state-level effort in recent history to examine federal law enforcement conduct, developed under conditions that included limited access to federal information, no cooperation from federal officials, and the lack of subpoena authority.

"The Commission formally presents today a formal and factual public record of federal law enforcement activity in Illinois during Operation Midway Blitz to Governor Pritzker," said Chair Rubén Castillo. "This report is the culmination of months of public hearings, testimony, community engagement, expert analysis, and extensive review of video evidence. We've centered the voices and lived experiences of impacted communities and issued findings and recommendations to strengthen oversight to prevent future harm."

"The Commission recognizes the limits of its authority, including the absence of subpoena power and prosecutorial jurisdiction," said Vice-Chair Patricia Brown Holmes. "Where the evidentiary record indicates potential criminal conduct, it is appropriate under the Commission's mandate to transmit that record to the agencies empowered to investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute."

The findings are supported by the underlying evidentiary record outlined in each investigative brief. The report also outlines a series of recommendations for federal, state, local and private actors aimed at preventing future misconduct and strengthening accountability.

Among the key findings in the report:

• Federal immigration agents engaged in dangerous high-speed vehicular pursuits, extreme physical force, indiscriminate use of chemical agents, shootings, beatings, and other violent acts, amounting to unconstitutional uses of force.
• Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Homeland Security, and the White House routinely lied to the public about the motivations and outcomes of Operation Midway Blitz and concealed and distorted key facts about events involving federal immigration agents.
• Federal immigration agents conducted discriminatory stops and unlawful warrantless arrests, creating widespread fear throughout the Chicago metropolitan area and beyond.
• CBP and ICE paramilitary tactics like face masks, military fatigues and body armor, unmarked vehicles, and military-style weapons, along with surveillance of protesters and observers, created an environment of occupation that terrorized immigrants and attempted to silence individuals engaged in First Amendment protected activity.
• Inhumane conditions and lack of due process were used by federal immigration agents to coerce individuals in detention into leaving the country, even if they had a legal pathway to residency or relief from deportation.
• High-level White House, DHS and other federal officials enabled and encouraged misconduct by ICE and CBP agents during Operation Midway Blitz by urging agents to "go hard," defending and mischaracterizing incidents of use of force, shielding agents from accountability, lifting safeguards, and effectuating harmful policies.
• Operation Midway Blitz had a pervasive chilling effect on civic life, negatively undermined community trust in state and local law enforcement, strained many businesses and economic districts in the Chicago area, and hurt the mental health and well-being of Illinois children and families.
• Illinois' Trust Act and other Initiatives to support immigrants promoted public safety, despite claims to the contrary by the federal government.

Key Policy Recommendations include:

• Creating Commonsense Immigration Policy and Enforcement Guardrails
• Ending Indiscriminate Enforcement Sweeps & Warrantless Arrests for Civil Enforcement
• Prohibiting Identity Shielding Techniques by ICE & CBP
• Protecting Sensitive Locations and Local Autonomy
• Preventing, Investigating and Disciplining Unlawful Use of Force
• Safeguarding Against Improper Surveillance
• Ensuring Due Process and Safety Protections for Detained Individuals
• Reform and Strengthen DHS Misconduct Protocols
• Raising the Hiring Bar for Federal Immigration Agents
• Increasing Transparency of DHS Enforcement Activity
• Supporting Health and Well-Being of Impacted Communities
• Creating An Archive of Operation Midway Blitz
• Use the IAC's Record for Short- and Long-Term Accountability

"What we are releasing today reflects months of listening, documenting, and bearing witness to what communities experienced on the ground," said IAC Executive Director Hina Mahmood. "This report ensures those experiences are not lost, disputed out of existence, or buried in competing narratives. It stands as a factual public record that reflects what people lived through, and it is meant to be returned to whenever the facts or responsibility for these actions are in dispute."

"Our job was to investigate and present the record to the public," said IAC Lead Counsel Ahmed Baset. "In doing so, we documented likely crimes by federal agents and a deep community demand for justice. Delivering it now rests with the institutions built for that purpose."

"The Illinois Accountability Commission's final hearing marks a defining moment. Not an ending, but a reckoning," said IDHR Director Jim Bennett. "This report is a testament to our citizens who came forward and refused to let federal agents' abusive and extreme actions go unanswered. The State of Illinois has made it clear that no one is above the law including the federal government and that documentation of these crimes creates a foundation as we pursue justice. These weren't abstract violations. They happened to real people, and this record exists because of their courage. We will continue this work until there is full accountability."

Efforts to hold agents accountable at the local level, like the Commission, are the only guardrails left. The White House, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) have eliminated internal guardrails that protect the public from unlawful conduct by federal agents, abdicated their responsibility to discipline agents to ensure they conform to policies that prohibit these unlawful practices, and are instead lying to excuse unlawful actions.

For the next chapter of this work, the Commissioners will complete their terms through October 22, 2026, to be activated during that time for meetings and hearings at the call of the Governor.

To view the letter and the full report, visit ilac.illinois.gov/final-report.

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