* Tribune last week…

A state commission scrutinizing the Chicago-area immigration crackdown this past fall sent its findings to law enforcement Tuesday, with some members and Gov. JB Pritzker pushing for investigations they said could lead to criminal charges against federal agents involved in violent episodes during the notorious Operation Midway Blitz raids.

Since the 64-day crackdown, some advocates have been disappointed at what they see as a lack of accountability for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents who repeatedly used force against immigrants, U.S. citizens, protesters, journalists and neighborhood residents, including in the killing of Silverio Villegas González in September and the shooting of Marimar Martínez in October.

Pritzker last fall tasked the Illinois Accountability Commission with fact-finding about the sweeping Chicago-area raids for posterity, the public eye and potential future law enforcement actions, but the panel itself has no direct law enforcement power.

“The referral is not intended to say, you must prosecute. It is a set of evidence that they should be investigating,” Pritzker said.

He compared the report to a person approaching the police with an accusation or evidence.

“You would expect that the police, and then perhaps the state’s attorney, would then pursue that. You should expect that. … Obviously, some of us have opinions about whether somebody should be prosecuted or not, but I am not a judge,” he said.

* Tribune last night…

The Illinois State Police is investigating last year’s controversial fatal shooting of a father of two by an immigration enforcement agent in Franklin Park during the early days of the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz immigration-enforcement raids.

The state police investigation is the first independent probe of federal agents’ actions during the intense immigration and deportation sweep that lasted more than two months.

Silverio Villegas González, 38, had just dropped off his children at daycare on Sept. 12 and was on his way to work when agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pulled him over near the intersection of Grand Avenue and Elder Lane in the near west suburb.

During the confrontation, Villegas González was shot in the neck before crashing his car into a semi truck, officials have said.

“The Franklin Park Police Department requested the (state police’s) Public Integrity Task Force to investigate the shooting of Silverio Villegas Gonzalez,” state police spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said in a prepared statement Tuesday night. “PITF has begun the initial investigation. When complete, the case will be turned over to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.”

The controversial shooting spurred calls for a vigorous and transparent investigation by figures, including Gov. JB Pritzker and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Last year, after the shooting, Illinois Democrats led by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin wrote to then-U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem asking for transparency and urging her to end what they called “dangerous operations” in the Chicago area. […]

On Tuesday night, state’s attorney spokeswoman Elyssa Cherney said the office has “been in contact with (the state police) and will play a supportive role in their investigation, in accordance with our Federal Immigration Enforcement Action Response Protocol.”