Mexico seeking criminal charges in death of Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, 16 other ICE deaths

Mexico has requested criminal charges in the deaths of 17 Mexicans who died either in ICE custody or during immigration enforcement operations by the Trump administration, including Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, who was shot and killed by ICE agents last year in Franklin Park.

It's been almost a year since Villegas-Gonzalez was shot and killed by an ICE agent last September. The Department of Homeland Security has said an agent was trying to arrest Villegas-Gonzalez, but he tried to flee and ram agents with his car.

An autopsy report showed that Villegas-Gonzales was shot in the neck at close range and also suffered gunshot graze wounds to two fingers. The toxicology report found he also had cocaine in his system at the time of the shooting. He had just dropped his child off at daycare when he was pulled over.  

The Trump administration claimed Villegas-Gonzales dragged an ICE agent with his car and severely injured him. However, body cam video captured the agent describing his own injuries as "nothing major." 

Illinois State Police opened an investigation earlier this year and the Cook County State's Attorney's Office has said it will play a supportive role in that investigation.

Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Mexico's call for criminal charges over Villegas-Gonzalez's death, but a few months ago, Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Yvette Loizon read a statement from O'Neill Burke stating, "if a federal law enforcement agent commits a crime, my office will not hesitate to act in accordance with state law."

At the time, Cook County prosecutors were responding to a request for a special prosecutor for investigations into federal agent misconduct during Operation Midway Blitz last fall.

"This state's attorney has decided that she cannot legally take any action when no one else has. A special prosecutor is necessary to ensure any action happens at all," attorney Steve Art, who represented a group of activists and politicians seeking a special prosecutor, said at the time.

The request for a special prosecutor was denied when a Cook County 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. 

It was one of many attempts to curb violent actions by immigration agents across the state.

In January, Mayor Brandon Johnson directed Chicago police to send any evidence of illegal activity by federal agents to O'Neill Burke's office.

A few months later, the state published a report documenting findings of misconduct by federal agents during Midway Blitz, and recommended the federal government hold agents accountable.

In May, Illinois State Police began investigating Villegas-Gonzalez's case. Now Mexico is adding to the pressure to charge the agent who shot him.

"I think the first reason they're doing it is for political reasons, but I think they're also doing it to put pressure on local prosecutors and federal prosecutors to start doing something as opposed to just sitting back and doing nothing. I think both of those objectives are okay. I don't think they're going to necessarily work," CBS News Chicago legal analyst Irv Miller said.

Miller has years of experience as a prosecutor himself and said O'Neill Burke is following the law.

"She's doing maybe not what everybody would want a prosecutor to do, but she's doing what the law requires and what her ethical duties are, not only as a lawyer, but as a prosecutor. I don't think any pressure from Mexico is going to change her position," he said.

Mexico's request for prosecutions carries no legal weight, but will be submitted to both state prosecutors and the U.S. Department of Justice alongside civil lawsuits against companies that operate some ICE detention centers.