New Filing Urges Attorney General, State’s Attorney, and Chicago Police Superintendent to Launch Criminal Investigations into Federal Agents for Unlawful Assaults, Detentions, and Political Retaliation Against Illinois Residents

CHICAGO, IL (October 27, 2025) Free Speech For People, a national nonpartisan legal advocacy organization, today filed a formal request urging Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke, and Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling to open criminal investigations into the unlawful actions of federal agents operating in Illinois under the Trump administration’s so-called “Operation Midway Blitz.”

The filing details an escalating pattern of criminal activity by federal agents conducted across Cook County in September and October 2025, including unlawful detentions, violent assaults, destruction of property, kidnappings, and racially motivated targeting of communities of color. Free Speech For People’s letter alleges that these acts were part of a coordinated criminal conspiracy directed by President Donald Trump and senior administration officials, intended not to enforce federal law but to punish and terrorize immigrants and political opponents.

These are not law-enforcement operations; they are acts of political violence,” said Courtney Hostetler, Legal Director for Free Speech For People. “President Trump and his agents are using the power of the federal government to kidnap residents, terrorize communities, and attack people for exercising their First Amendment rights. State officials have both the power and the duty to act.

Announced by the Department of Homeland Security on September 8, 2025, “Operation Midway Blitz” was purportedly aimed at apprehending gang-affiliated noncitizens. Yet public evidence, including Trump’s own remarks, shows that the operation’s true intent was to “brutalize, terrorize, and intimidate” residents of Chicago and its surrounding communities.

In the weeks following the operation’s launch, federal agents engaged in a series of violent and unlawful actions, including:

• Killing Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, an unarmed driver, without cause;
• Raiding homes without warrants or probable cause;
• Rappelling from helicopters and deploying military vehicles in residential neighborhoods;
• Separating families and detaining children without due process;
• Assaulting clergy and elected officials, including the shooting of Pastor David Black and the detention of Alderwoman Jessie Fuentes; and
• Targeting and arresting protesters, journalists, and community leaders engaged in constitutionally protected activities.

At the Broadview detention facility, originally intended for short-term immigration processing, federal agents have unlawfully detained individuals for days in inhumane conditions, denied them access to counsel, and responded to peaceful protests with escalating violence.

The letter outlines numerous violations of Illinois criminal law, including murder, assault, aggravated battery, criminal trespass, burglary, and intimidation, as well as potential hate crimes and civil rights violations. It further contends that Supremacy Clause immunity does not protect federal agents who act outside lawful authority or engage in conduct they know to be unlawful.

Federal agents do not have a license to commit crimes,” said Ben Clements, Chairman and Senior Legal Advisor at Free Speech For People. “The Constitution does not give the president or his subordinates permission to terrorize citizens or weaponize law enforcement against political opponents. Illinois law applies equally to everyone, including the president.

Free Speech For People emphasizes that while federal prosecutors have been compromised by the administration’s own misconduct, state and local authorities retain independent jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes committed within their borders.

When federal officials become the perpetrators of violence and illegality, it falls to the states to defend the rule of law,” said Ben Horton, Counsel at  Free Speech For People. “Illinois must not wait for and, with this lawless administration, cannot rely on Washington to police itself.

To read Free Speech For People’s letter to the Illinois Attorney General, Cook County State’s Attorney, and Chicago Police Superintendent, click here.

To read Free Speech For People’s cover letter to the Illinois Governor, click here.

To read Free Speech For People’s cover letter to the Chicago Mayor, click here.