Activists file police reports alleging crimes by federal agents in Chicago during Operation Midway Blitz
A group of activists and elected officials filed reports with the Chicago Police Department on Monday, alleging crimes committed by federal agents during Operation Midway Blitz last fall.
Elected officials, attorneys, and community leaders gathered Monday at Belmont Area Police Headquarters, at 2452 W. Belmont Ave.
In April, the Illinois commission investigating Operation Midway Blitz released a report recommending the prosecution of the frontline ICE and Border Patrol agents using tear gas, guns and Blackhawk helicopters in immigration raids around Chicago.
Gov. JB Pritzker created the Illinois Accountability Commission in October of last year during the height of Operation Midway Blitz. Cook County Commissioner Jessica Vásquez (D-8th) said the commission's final report "documented a pattern of misconduct during Operation Midway Blitz, including unjustified uses of force against immigrants, U.S. citizens, protesters, journalists, clergy, and bystanders."
At a news conference, Vásquez said the mass filing of police reports on Monday will be the first of many.
"Today's mass filing is not an exclusive exercise," she said. "We have chosen our right to file police reports together to make our collective demand for accountability both public and impossible to ignore."
Among those in attendance was Marimar Martinez, who was shot by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent last fall in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood. Border Patrol agent Charles Exum shot Martinez five times in October 2025 after agents wrongly claimed she tried to ram into them.
Hospitalized, then criminally charged, Martinez has since been exonerated. She has also since testified against more money going to Border Patrol.
At the news conference Monday, Martinez described Exum not as a legitimate authority, but as "a man from Maine [who] visited Chicago for work."
"He swerved into my vehicle on Kedzie Avenue, and moments later, jumped out of his vehicle and started shooting at me. This man shot five bullets directly at me and tried to kill me. My car and body were pierced with bullets. I feared I was going to die as I called 911," Martinez said. "Charles Exum showed no remorse from his criminal actions, and instead laughed and joked with his coworkers about shooting me. His boss, former Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, rewarded him."
Martinez said rather than holding Exum accountable, the federal government promoted him.
"Charles Exum showed no remorse for his actions, but instead laughed and joked with his coworkers about shooting me," she said.
Attorney Berto Aguayo said he came to Brighton Park after Martinez was shot. His goal was to document what was happening and help deescalate the situation, only for federal agents to deploy tear gas on him and others in a crowd.
"I watched federal agents move towards residents in a confrontational manner, and I believe that they were trying to provoke a reaction. So I grabbed the megaphone. I told our neighbors to not take the bait. And together, we started chanting: 'Don't take the bait! Don't take the bait!'" said Aguayo, "and as we were deescalating the situation, suddenly, the agents fired tear gas into a crowd that included children, families, elected officials. Something struck my calf. My eyes and nose started to burn. I could not see. I could barely breathe."
Diane Figueroa, a U.S. citizen whose family immigrated from Mexico, said she was roughed up and apprehended by federal agents without being told why on Oct. 10, 2025, just days after Martinez was shot.
"That day, after dropping my son off at school, I was violently pulled out of my vehicle by masked armed men. They never identified themselves or explained to me why they were arresting me," Figueroa said. "I was unarmed and cooperating. Even so, I was beaten, handcuffed, and taken from one detention facility to another without knowing who they were, where they were taking me, or what was going to happen."
Attorney Brian Orozco said the agents' actions in Operation Midway Blitz victimized many.
"It impacts the entire community. People were tear-gassed that were not just undocumented people that were immigrants. They were U.S. citizens, professionals, attorneys, businessmen, members of every aspect of our community," said Orozco. "No one is safe at this moment, which is why accountability matters."
Orozco said his firm is handling accountability on the civil side through lawsuits, but is also calling for criminal prosecutions against the agents because "what they did every day is criminal."
The Department of Homeland Security has maintained their agents' actions in these cases and others were a reaction for fear of their own safety.
If the Chicago Police Department finds cause to charge a federal agent with a crime in connection to Operation Midway Blitz, the Cook County State's Attorney's office would need to approve any felony charges before they could be brought to court.
