Chicago judge denies request for special prosecutor for Operation Midway Blitz investigations
A Chicago judge denied a request to appoint a special prosecutor for investigations into federal agent misconduct during Operation Midway Blitz last fall.
A group of hundreds of politicians, community activists and religious leaders had asked for a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of misconduct against U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration Enforcement agents during the federal immigration crackdown in Chicago.
They argued Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke worked too closely with federal agencies to bring cases against them, and had abandoned her duty to investigate the actions of federal immigration agents.
O'Neill Burke denied any conflict of interest, and her team argued, "Illinois law simply does not permit prosecutors to initiate criminal investigations and bring prosecutions because the general public and elected officials would like them to."
The judge ruled the petitioners did not prove the state's attorney abandoned her duty to investigate federal agents, nor did they prove she had a conflict of interest. The judge said an allegation of a relationship with law enforcement is not enough to establish a conflict of interest.
The judge did say the allegations of criminal wrongdoing by federal agents against Chicagoans during Operation Midway Blitz "compelling" and "unprovoked," and said the court has protocol for these allegations that was not followed.
Illinois State Police recently began an investigation into the fatal shooting of an undocumented father by ICE agents in Franklin Park, Illinois, in September 2025.
