A commission formed to document alleged harassment and abuse by federal agents during an immigration crackdown in the Chicago area reviewed the wide use of chemical agents in its first public hearing Thursday.
The immigration operation, which started in September, has been marked by aggressive tactics widely denounced by judges, elected leaders and a growing number of residents in the nation’s third-largest city and surrounding suburbs. Formed by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, the commission is the latest resistance effort by a Democratic-led state to the Trump administration’s federal intervention, which critics say is discriminatory and an overreach of executive power.
“It’s going to be impossible to forget,” said Rubén Castillo, a former federal judge who leads the commission, of the immigration operation. “The one thing we cannot do is accept this. This cannot be the new normal.”
Castillo said Thursday that “nothing is off of the table” as far as recommendations the commission can make to the state, including legislation. Many of the federal agents’ actions “dishonors” true members of law enforcement, he added.
However, the eight-member commission is restricted by the state’s limited authority. It has no subpoena power and no direct law enforcement authority. There also was no apparent way for members of the public who experienced or witnessed excessive force to directly report allegations, the Tribune reported a month ago, although the commission said Thursday that it would open an online portal next month.
The meeting lasted for about three hours and focused on chemical weapons used by federal agents, such as tear gas and pepper balls. […]
The first person to speak to the commission on Thursday was Matt DeMateo, pastor at New Life Centers.
DeMateo brought up a Nov. 8 incident where Rafael Veraza was driving with his family, including his 13-year-old daughter, in the Sam’s club parking lot near 26th and Ogden in Cicero when they were sprayed with a chemical irritant.
“I want to be clear, every person in that car was an American citizen. Should never have to say that. They were simply again, shopping on a Saturday morning,” DeMateo said.
Rohini Haar, a doctor and lecturer at the University of California-Berkley, testified Thursday about the impact of chemical irritants, telling commissioners that tear gas — which has been banned in warfare but can be used by law enforcement — can affect and injure nearly every part of a person’s body.
“Chemical irritants are inherently indiscriminate,” Haar said. “Once you fire it, there is no saying where the wind blows or who it targets. You cannot control an individual with this and you can’t target it.” […]
Federal agents deployed tear gas in and around Chicago more than a half dozen times since Oct. 3 as part of “Operation Midway Blitz.”
As part of a lawsuit that sought to restrict the use of such weapons, a federal judge last month found agents “indiscriminately” fired tear gas at Chicagoans, tackled them, beat them, struck them with pepper balls and pointed weapons at them.
Haar, who reviewed numerous instances from “Operation Midway Blitz” of agents using chemical weapons against residents, said that each and every case she had seen “of this has been excessive use of force.”
In January, the commission will open a portal where the public can submit information for review. The commission is required to issue a public status update by the end of January and a final report by the end of April. […]
Over a dozen members of the public had signed up to give comments to the commission. Some thanked commissioners for their work and shared stories from community members who were unable to attend, either out of fear or due to detainment by federal immigration agents.
Others called on the commission to act swiftly, and to include Chicago and Illinois State Police in their review of local officers assisting federal immigration agents in violation of the TRUST Act. […]
Presbyterian Rev. David Black, who was shot in the head with a pepper ball by federal agents while protesting at ICE’s Broadview detention facility on Sept. 19, also spoke at the meeting. Like others, he asked commissioners to recommend that the state drop its charges against Broadview protesters.
“We don’t just need calls for accountability. We need good neighbors, and we need those good neighbors to be protected by the state and the city that claim to have the same opponents we do,” Black said. “We need you to drop the state charges against those who are trying to protect their neighbors, instead of repressing the few people who are willing right now to step up and put their own lives at risk to stop these masked kidnappers.”
Castillo indicated that he and the rest of the commission would take the remarks under consideration.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday defended their agents actions, which they continue to say are exercised only in the face of grave threats and dangerous situations.
“DHS law enforcement officers follow the law and the U.S. Constitution,” a statement from DHS read in part. “Our law enforcement show incredible restraint and professionalism in exhausting all options before any kind of non-lethal force is used.”
==DHS law enforcement officers follow the law and the U.S. Constitution==
Do they really? Snatching people off of the street (citizens included) and demanding to see their “papers” doesn’t really seem to uphold what the Constitution requires.
==Our law enforcement show incredible restraint and professionalism==
This is a sad situation, a lot of theatrics going on with both sides. We should keep in mind that if people would stand in front of CPD police cars and police officers conducting an arrest, they would get the same response from CPD as they get from ICE. ICE agents are Federal law enforcement officers. Their theatrics are designed to get illegal immigrants to leave voluntarily. Meanwhile, the state theatrics of hearings and vowing to outlaw ICE enforcement fails to mention that federal law prevails over state law.
If someone is undocumented, instead of confronting the ICE agents, they should avoid them if possible, and if they are caught, don’t try to run them down or fight with them. It can makes things worse.
- If someone is undocumented, instead of confronting the ICE agents -
Are you so dense you actually think undocumented persons are confronting ICE? Those people being arrested and pepper sprayed are American citizens, protesting the brutality of ICE against citizens and non-citizens alike.
@Dupage, you appear to be repeating ICE talking points. Many victims of this federal anti-immigrant operation were doing exactly what you advise–calmly minding their own business, and doing nothing wrong. Nevertheless, they were hunted down, often for no other reason than that they appeared to the agents to be of Hispanic (for the most part) ethnicity.
And please show us credible reports of immigrants running down agents–*credible* being the operative term. On the contrary, most evidence–including actual video–point to the agents running down and/or ramming vehicles, then falsely accusing their victims of just this behavior.
It’s important not to legitimize this lawless behavior on the part of immigration agents by repeating false narratives.
- Demoralized - Friday, Dec 19, 25 @ 1:42 pm:
==DHS law enforcement officers follow the law and the U.S. Constitution==
Do they really? Snatching people off of the street (citizens included) and demanding to see their “papers” doesn’t really seem to uphold what the Constitution requires.
==Our law enforcement show incredible restraint and professionalism==
All evidence to the contrary.
- Dotnonymous x - Friday, Dec 19, 25 @ 1:50 pm:
Trading freedom for safety looks just like this.
- Dupage - Friday, Dec 19, 25 @ 1:59 pm:
This is a sad situation, a lot of theatrics going on with both sides. We should keep in mind that if people would stand in front of CPD police cars and police officers conducting an arrest, they would get the same response from CPD as they get from ICE. ICE agents are Federal law enforcement officers. Their theatrics are designed to get illegal immigrants to leave voluntarily. Meanwhile, the state theatrics of hearings and vowing to outlaw ICE enforcement fails to mention that federal law prevails over state law.
If someone is undocumented, instead of confronting the ICE agents, they should avoid them if possible, and if they are caught, don’t try to run them down or fight with them. It can makes things worse.
- Dotnonymous x - Friday, Dec 19, 25 @ 2:23 pm:
-ICE agents are Federal law enforcement officers. -
Are you sure?…masked men who won’t self identify may or may not be federal law enforcement officers…who could tell?
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Dec 19, 25 @ 2:28 pm:
- If someone is undocumented, instead of confronting the ICE agents -
Are you so dense you actually think undocumented persons are confronting ICE? Those people being arrested and pepper sprayed are American citizens, protesting the brutality of ICE against citizens and non-citizens alike.
- Crispy - Friday, Dec 19, 25 @ 2:29 pm:
@Dupage, you appear to be repeating ICE talking points. Many victims of this federal anti-immigrant operation were doing exactly what you advise–calmly minding their own business, and doing nothing wrong. Nevertheless, they were hunted down, often for no other reason than that they appeared to the agents to be of Hispanic (for the most part) ethnicity.
And please show us credible reports of immigrants running down agents–*credible* being the operative term. On the contrary, most evidence–including actual video–point to the agents running down and/or ramming vehicles, then falsely accusing their victims of just this behavior.
It’s important not to legitimize this lawless behavior on the part of immigration agents by repeating false narratives.
- Dotnonymous x - Friday, Dec 19, 25 @ 2:43 pm:
How many self-appointed impostors have seized this once in a lifetime opportunity to commit crimes under the false color of law…we’ll never know.