– 10 entries
Operation Midway Blitz (Chicago Immigration Crackdown)
A sustained federal immigration-enforcement surge in the Chicago area, beginning in September 2025, produced fatal and non-fatal shootings of bystanders and U.S. citizens, repeated excessive-force incidents against people uninvolved in enforcement actions, a same-day disinformation episode following one of the shootings, a state National Guard federalization fought by the governor, local government pushback against protests near an ICE facility, court findings that hundreds of arrests were unconstitutional, and the eventual collapse of a retaliatory prosecution against protesters. The episode collects the enforcement, due-process, and accountability entries the operation generated.
Operation Midway Blitz was a sustained federal immigration-enforcement surge in the Chicago metropolitan area that began in September 2025, bringing a large concentration of Border Patrol and ICE agents — at times under Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino — into local neighborhoods for street-level enforcement. The operation produced a recurring pattern across the entries it generated: agents shot or used force against people who were not the subjects of any enforcement action, and the government's public accounts of those incidents were repeatedly contradicted by the evidence.
On September 12, 2025, an ICE agent fatally shot Silverio Villegas-González during a traffic stop in Franklin Park. On October 4, President Trump federalized 300 Illinois National Guard troops for immigration enforcement over Gov. JB Pritzker's objection, the same day a Border Patrol agent shot Chicago citizen Marimar Martinez five times in her car in Brighton Park — DHS's same-day public account of the shooting was contradicted within days by the criminal complaint, body-camera footage, and the agents' own reports, and the agent was never disciplined. Two days later, Broadview's mayor imposed a curfew on protests near the town's ICE processing facility. On October 14, Border Patrol agents defied a supervisor's order to end a car chase and crashed into a vehicle at 51 mph; on October 31, an agent in Evanston pointed a gun at bystanders while another punched a handcuffed detainee; on December 27, an ICE agent pushed an attorney and activist to the ground at a Brookfield gas station.
By early 2026, federal courts began ruling on the operation's legality: in February, a judge ordered the release of four Midway Blitz detainees and rejected an ICE directive expanding warrantless-arrest discretion, and later that month a judge found that 32 warrantless arrests during the operation violated the Castañon Nava consent decree and ordered further releases. In May 2026, federal prosecutors dropped all charges against the Chicago "Broadview Six" over grand jury misconduct, ending a prosecution tied to the protests the operation had provoked.
This episode collects Standing Record's entries on Operation Midway Blitz — the shootings, excessive-force incidents, the National Guard federalization fight, local protest pushback, the court rulings on unlawful arrests, and the collapse of the retaliatory prosecution. Each is recorded as its own entry; together they document a single, sustained federal operation in Chicago and its consequences. It is a running episode and should absorb later Midway Blitz entries as they arrive.
2026 Events (3)
Federal prosecutors drop all charges against Chicago 'Broadview Six' over grand jury misconduct
On May 21, 2026, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois moved in open court to dismiss with prejudice all remaining charges against the "Broadview Six" — protesters criminally charged over a September 2025 demonstration outside the Broadview ICE facility — after his office acknowledged misconduct in the grand jury proceedings that produced the indictment. Defense counsel said the transcripts showed prosecutors improperly vouched for evidence, concealed that an initial grand jury had refused to indict, re-presented the case after excluding grand jurors who disagreed, and redacted transcript pages without telling the court. U.S. District Judge April Perry, who reviewed the transcripts, said she had never in her career seen prosecutorial conduct as bad, and signaled a possible separate hearing on sanctions.
Judge found 32 warrantless Operation Midway Blitz arrests violated Castañon Nava consent decree, ordered releases
On February 27, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ruled that at least 32 warrantless arrests made by immigration agents during Operation Midway Blitz in the Chicago area violated the 2022 Castañon Nava consent decree, which permits warrantless immigration arrests only when agents have probable cause that a person is unlawfully present and a flight risk. Cummings ordered the government to release the affected detainees by noon the following Thursday; it was the second time in five months that Cummings found the same operation violated the decree.
Judge ordered release of 4 Operation Midway Blitz detainees, rejected ICE directive expanding warrantless-arrest discretion
On February 13, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ordered the Department of Homeland Security to release four people who had been arrested without warrants during Operation Midway Blitz, and separately rejected a recent ICE directive — a memo from Acting Director Todd Lyons — that sought to give agents more discretion to make warrantless arrests, finding it inconsistent with the 2022 Castañon Nava consent decree. The ruling followed a federal appeals court's earlier rejection of Cummings' original October 2025 order to release hundreds of people arrested without warrants under the same operation.
2025 Events (7)
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 pushed attorney and immigrant-rights activist Robert Held to the ground at a gas station in Brookfield, Illinois. Held, who is over 60, had followed Saracco's vehicle from an ICE processing facility in Broadview and was filming him when the confrontation occurred.
Border Patrol agent pointed gun at bystanders, another punched handcuffed detainee in Evanston, Illinois
On October 31, 2025, U.S. Border Patrol agent Timothy Donahue pointed his service weapon at unarmed bystanders and threatened to shoot them after a vehicle crash in Evanston, Illinois, while fellow agent Thomas Parsons punched a handcuffed man on the ground. Agents pepper-sprayed onlookers and detained three U.S. citizens, who were released without charges after several hours in federal custody. Both agents were operating under U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Operation Midway Blitz.
Border Patrol agents defied supervisor's order to end Chicago car chase, crashed into vehicle at 51 mph
On October 14, 2025, Border Patrol agents Benito Nunez, Carlos Chavira Jr., and Jesus Guillen pursued a fleeing vehicle for 18 minutes through Chicago's East Side neighborhood, disregarding their supervisor's repeated radio orders to stop the chase. The pursuit ended when the agents' vehicle blew a tire and crashed into the fleeing SUV at 51 mph near East 105th Street and South Avenue N — a crash DHS publicly described as an authorized "precision immobilization technique," a claim later-released body-camera footage contradicted.
Broadview, Illinois Mayor Thompson signed executive order imposing 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily curfew on ICE facility protests
On October 6, 2025, Broadview, Illinois Mayor Katrina Thompson signed Executive Order No. 2025-01, fixing the hours during which people could protest or gather at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility on Beach Street to 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. The order, issued amid ongoing clashes between federal agents and demonstrators during "Operation Midway Blitz," cited public-safety concerns and covered both the facility and a nearby designated protest area. The ACLU of Illinois said it would monitor enforcement of the restriction, and a federal lawsuit challenging it followed within weeks.
Trump federalizes 300 Illinois National Guard troops over Gov. Pritzker's objection, deploying state forces for immigration enforcement
On October 4, 2025, the Trump administration federalized 300 Illinois National Guard troops after Governor JB Pritzker refused a White House ultimatum to voluntarily mobilize them for immigration enforcement at the Broadview ICE facility near Chicago. Pritzker called the demand "absolutely outrageous and un-American."
Border Patrol agent shot Chicago citizen Marimar Martinez five times; DHS's same-day account was contradicted by its own evidence
On October 4, 2025, U.S. Border Patrol agent Charles Exum shot Marimar Martinez, a 30-year-old U.S. citizen and Montessori teaching assistant, five times through her car window in Chicago's Brighton Park after she followed agents' vehicle and honked to warn others of their presence. Hours later DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin publicly said agents had been "rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars" and that Martinez was armed with a "semi-automatic weapon" — claims the next day's criminal complaint, body-camera footage and the agents' own reports did not support. Martinez was charged with assaulting federal officers, the charges were dismissed with prejudice in November 2025, and Exum was placed on paid administrative leave rather than disciplined.
ICE agent fatally shot Silverio Villegas-González during a traffic stop in Franklin Park, Illinois
On September 12, 2025, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Silverio Villegas-González, a 38-year-old Mexican national and father of two, during a targeted traffic stop in Franklin Park, Illinois, part of the Chicago-area "Midway Blitz" enforcement surge. The Department of Homeland Security said he resisted arrest, fled, and dragged an agent, but eyewitnesses disputed that anyone was dragged and video showed agents breaking his car window before he was shot at close range. Bodycam footage showed the agent describing his own injuries as "nothing major."