A Cook County judge questioned prosecutors Monday about whether protocols they announced this year for the potential prosecution of Operation Midway Blitz agents actually ruled out charges for nonviolent crimes such as conspiracy or perjury.
Prosecutors denied setting any limits for themselves. But Cook County Circuit Judge Erica Reddick posed the question while considering whether to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate those federal agents — offering possible insight into her thinking.
Reddick did not rule Monday on whether to appoint a special prosecutor, despite previously setting that goal for herself. The judge said she now expects to rule on May 21.
The decision she hands down could turn out to be a crucial turning point in efforts to hold agents responsible for their conduct during the deportation campaign.
A coalition of elected officials, clergy, journalists and attorneys say a special prosecutor should be appointed because Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has turned a “blind eye” to “egregious acts of violence” by federal agents.
But O’Neill Burke’s office points to a 2017 Illinois Supreme Court decision addressing the power of a state’s attorney to investigate alleged crimes. Her team says its role is to “support” law enforcement investigations, not to be the “primary investigators.”
“The state’s attorney has repeatedly condemned the tactics used by the Trump administration and during Operation Midway Blitz, denouncing the abhorrent conduct we have all witnessed,” the office said in a statement following Monday’s hearing.
Reddick delayed her ruling after attorneys on both sides of the issue filed supplemental briefs with the court. The coalition seeking a special prosecutor shared the recent Illinois Accountability Commission report, which found that federal agents regularly used force against Illinois residents “without justification” during Midway Blitz.
Gov JB Pritzker assembled the commission to investigate the agents’ conduct during the deportation campaign.
O’Neill Burke’s office followed up with its own filing Friday. It pointed to its support of the recently initiated Illinois State Police investigation into the September killing of Silverio Villegas Gonzalez by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Franklin Park.
Coalition attorneys declined to answer questions Monday about whether that investigation should affect the judge’s decision. They said they’ll address it in another brief due to the judge Friday.
The coalition includes the Chicago News Guild, which represents journalists at the Chicago Sun-Times.
Reddick, the presiding judge of the criminal division, had questions for O’Neill Burke’s team Monday about the protocol released by her office in February. It outlined how her office would work with state and local law enforcement when “a death, shooting, act of violence, or use of force incident related to federal immigration enforcement activity occurs.”
The coalition’s list of crimes potentially committed by immigration agents also includes nonviolent crimes.
So Reddick asked about the scope of O’Neill Burke’s protocol and whether her office had limited itself to pursuing charges only for allegations of violence. The judge specifically brought up the potential for conspiracy or perjury charges.
“Will the scope — the stated limit of the scope — preclude the state from pursuing a prosecution — if the facts support it — of the conspiracy charge?” Reddick asked.
Yvette Loizon, the chief assistant state’s attorney for policy and external affairs, said the protocol set no such limit.
“We wanted to make sure that we were giving law enforcement clear direction on how to access the state’s attorney’s office in those matters,” Loizon explained.
Neither the reporter nor editors who worked on this story — including some represented by the News Guild — have been involved in the litigation described in this article.