Illinois Accountability Commission releases Operation Midway Blitz report, recommends prosecuting some feds

The Illinois commission investigating Operation Midway Blitz released its final report and recommendations for accountability in the federal immigration crackdown in Chicago.

Governor JB Pritzker created the Illinois Accountability Commission in October during the height of Operation Midway Blitz.  Thursday they released their report and recommendations, including a push to prosecute the frontline ICE and Border Patrol agents using tear gas, guns and Blackhawk helicopters in immigration raids around Chicago.

"The factual record is grounded in evidence and lived experience that has taken a huge toll. I don't know if kids are ever going to feel they can cooperate with law enforcement every day," said Judge Ruben Castillo, a member of the commission. "I'm proud that the commission has approved the final report, which has now been formally transmitted to the governor."  

State leaders framed Operation Midway Blitz as an unprecedented campaign of harassment and brutality.

"This is not hard to prosecute. Not that far at all as far as I'm concerned," Catillo said.

Castillo led the commission as they reviewed 16 flashpoint incidents from last fall and winter. They heard from dozens of witnesses and victims, released new video and held community forums that led to the report which recommends, among other things, possible criminal charges for the crackdown's bad actors.

They sent heir findings to six law enforcement agencies, including the Cook County State's Attorney's Office who, to date, has not charged any federal agents for on-duty behavior during Operation Midway Blitz.

"I would say to State's Attorney Burke, don't want to investigate? Step aside and let a special prosecutor come in and do what needs to be done. But someone needs to do it," Castillo said.

A group is already in court pushing for a special prosecutor to be appointed to investigate possible crimes committed by federal agents, saying Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke has refused to investigate possible criminal action by federal agents because of a conflict of interest.  

The Cook County State's Attorney's Office commended the "bravery of every witness who testified." The Cook County State's Attorney's Office released the following statement in part: 

"Under Illinois statute, our Office can bring charges only after receiving a completed investigation from a law enforcement agency. At that point, we review the available evidence and determine whether criminal charges are warranted in state court." 

"She has said she hasn't been referred anything," Castillo said, referring to arguments made in court during a special prosecutor hearing. "Today, she will be referred something."

But the commission itself is not a law enforcement agency, a critical difference.

"The State's Attorney of Cook County is following the law, federal law and state law," said CBS News Chicago legal expert Irv Miller. "She can only prosecute cases she has the legal authority to prosecute. She knows where the line is and she's sticking to the line, and she's right to obey the law."

Speaking after the report was released, Pritzker said with no accountability on a federal level, state and local lawmakers need to step up.

"We have laws for a reason," he said, "and when they are broken, the perpetrator must face consequences. Without justice our laws are merely suggestions."

The commission is also asking the feds to prohibit roving patrols, hold agents accountable and require body-worn cameras, as well as stop using paramilitary tactics , and discipline ICE and CBP agents who committed misconduct.

Operation Midway Blitz ramped down during November 2025, and by mid-December was largely considered over, though the Trump administration has said multiple times it has not formally "ended."

President Trump's immigration agenda has been impeded in 2026 by the partial shutdown of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as Democrats in the Senate fought for guardrails and reforms for immigration agents as a condition for funding ICE and Customs and Border Protection.

A trio of Republicans - House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and President Trump – eventually came together around a plan to fund DHS through parallel tracks: first, the House passing a Senate DHS bill that excludes funding for ICE and CBP to immediately reopen the department, and then second funding ICE and CBP through the budget reconciliation process, which will let Republicans approve funding by simple majority without support from Democrats, who are in the minority in both houses of Congress.

The House passed the Senate's DHS bill on Thursday.

What the commission heard and saw during testimony

This week, the commission heard testimony from witnesses, officials, lawyers, and victims. 

The testimony claimed agents lied about their vehicles being boxed in, or claimed there were threats of being shot by people who didn't have a gun. Some testified that agents continued on high-speed chases when told not to.

For one of the cases, officials screened a video showing an hour of federal immigration enforcement in October.

In the video, minutes before agents threw tear gas at a protesting crowd, they pulled someone from a vehicle and tackled him. They also screeched to a halt in front of a young girl, and then questioned her citizenship, before moving on.  

Another incident occurred in  Lakeview one week before Halloween, when Border Patrol agents arrived to spot-check a home renovation project.

In video footage released by the Illinois Accountability Commission, a man can be heard telling the agents, "ICE, get off my property. This is private property." 

A community protest emerged outside the home, which led to Border Patrol agents deploying tear gas.

Commission officials said President Trump's team declined to appear at a series of hearings held since December.   

The Trump Administration began Operation Midway Blitz in September 2025. In the months that followed, thousands of federal agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection flooded the city, often in tactical gear and deploying heavy force against protesters, journalists, observers, and ordinary civilians as they carried out raids in neighborhoods, near schools, and outside courtrooms. 

Complaints about the overuse of force culminated in a federal judge issuing a permanent injunction against the immigration agents, prohibiting them from using tear gas and other riot control weapons, requiring them to issue warnings before force and riot control measures were used, and ordering them to both wear and use body-worn cameras.