Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker is urging state officials to pursue criminal investigations into federal immigration enforcement agents involved in Operation Midway Blitz, citing a report released by the Illinois Accountability Commission he created to investigate federal agents' conduct.
The commission released its findings Thursday during a press conference where Pritzker first vowed to seek criminal charges against Trump administration officials and law enforcement officers he said had 'broken the law.'
What the Right Is Saying
Department of Homeland Security Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis rejected Pritzker's calls for criminal prosecution, calling them a political stunt.
"Governor Pritzker continues to refuse to do his job to protect his citizens from illegal alien crime and instead chooses to smear our law enforcement," Bis said. "Where is the investigation into his own policies that allowed Sheridan Gorman's killer to be released from jail to go on and commit her heinous murder?"
Bis emphasized that federal officers acting in the course of their duties can only be investigated by other Federal agencies.
"The states do not have the authority to run such an investigation," Bis said.
What the Left Is Saying
Pritzker described the conduct documented in the report as an unprecedented campaign of harassment, intimidation and brutality directed at Illinois communities.
"They deployed tear gas and smoke grenades against peaceful protesters and peaceful crowds and in peaceful neighborhoods," Pritzker said. "They committed flagrant and egregious abuses of power and force that went unchecked."
The eight-member commission appointed by Pritzker included retired judges, a retired law enforcement official, former prosecutors and a nonprofit leader.
The more than 150-page report alleged that High-level White House, DHS and other federal officials enabled and encouraged misconduct by ICE and CBP agents during Operation Midway Blitz by urging agents to 'go hard,' defending and mischaracterizing incidents of use of force, shielding agents from accountability, lifting safeguards, and effectuating harmful policies.
The commission identified the death of Silverio Villegas González, an illegal immigrant from Mexico shot and killed by ICE agents, as one of more than a dozen incidents warranting further investigation.
What the Numbers Show
The Illinois Accountability Commission report is more than 150 pages long and was compiled by eight members appointed by Pritzker.
The commission identified more than a dozen incidents involving federal agents as alleged instances of misconduct that warrant further investigation, including one fatality.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and the Office of the Illinois Attorney General for comment on the report's findings.
The Bottom Line
Pritzker is seeking to use state legal authority to pursue criminal investigations into federal law enforcement officers, a move that faces significant jurisdictional challenges according to DHS officials. Whether Illinois has the legal standing to investigate and prosecute federal agents acting under federal authority remains an open constitutional question. The report's release marks an escalation in the ongoing dispute between Democratic governors and the Trump administration over immigration enforcement tactics. Legal experts say any attempt to charges federal officers would likely face immediate federal preemption challenges.