ICE agent Adam Saracco pushed attorney and activist Robert Held to the ground at Brookfield, Illinois gas station

On December 27, 2025, off-duty U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Adam Saracco, 41, pushed attorney and immigrant-rights activist Robert Held to the ground at a gas station in the 9200 block of East 31st Street in west suburban Brookfield, Illinois. Held, who is over 60, had followed Saracco's vehicle from an ICE processing facility in Broadview, where Held frequently documented agents' movements, and was filming Saracco when Saracco grew angry, approached him, and threw him to the ground. Saracco later said, "I don't want anybody sticking their camera in my face ... I tried to grab his phone." Held told officers, "He got very angry that I was filming him. He ran up to me and grabbed me and threw me on the ground." A witness described seeing "this old man being tackled to the ground."

Brookfield police sought a felony charge, but the Cook County state's attorney's office declined to elevate the case, citing insufficient evidence that Saracco knew Held was over 60 — a fact Held argued would support an aggravated charge — and the office's general reluctance to bring felony charges based solely on the public location of an alleged attack. Saracco was instead charged with misdemeanor battery.

The incident occurred during Operation Midway Blitz, the Trump administration's fall 2025 immigration-enforcement surge in the Chicago area, amid broader complaints that federal agents used force against protesters and observers monitoring ICE operations with little accountability. At the time of his guilty plea, Saracco was believed to be the only federal immigration agent charged in Cook County over conduct connected to that operation.

Updates

2026-08-12 — Saracco pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery, got a year of supervision [1, 3]

Saracco pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor battery count before Cook County Circuit Judge Owens J. Shelby and was sentenced to one year of court supervision, with no contact ordered with Held. Held said: "I'm gratified that there is some accountability. But as a country, we have a long way to go." Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke said in a statement, "No one is above the law — and that includes ICE agents. My office is committed to seeking justice on behalf of anyone harmed during Operation Midway Blitz when the evidence and the law allow us to prosecute."