Illinois Will Hold the Trump Administration Accountable

In September 2025, Donald Trump slandered Chicago as a “hell hole” and said “we’re going in.” Days later, his administration launched Operation Midway Blitz, a violent invasion of Chicago, its suburbs, and certain downstate communities.

Trump claimed it was an immigration crackdown targeting the “worst of the worst,” but that was a lie from the start. It was an attack on nurses, gardeners, and preschool teachers who have never harmed anyone. It was an attack on Black and brown citizens who were targeted just the same. It was an attack on our communities and the people who make them great.

It immediately became evident that the federal agents who militarized our streets were using tactics designed to incite fear and impose their cruelty on the people of Illinois. The President has broad policing powers, but they have never before been exercised in the way Donald Trump has chosen to use them — against U.S. citizens, legal residents and undocumented people alike.

To preserve the individual constitutional rights of Illinoisans, we launched a campaign to protect our state’s residents.

First, we immediately took the Trump administration to court to have federal judges prohibit the abuses of ICE and Customs and Border Patrol and prohibit Trump from federalizing our National Guard and deploying them into our cities.

Second, we funded rapid response teams and launched a “Know Your Rights” campaign to empower individuals and communities to protect themselves when they were the focus of Trump’s illegal attacks.

Third, I asked our residents to take out their mobile devices, record the ICE and CBP attacks, and post the videos on social media for everyone across the country to see.

Finally, I issued an Executive Order establishing the Illinois Accountability Commission, led by senior federal and state judges along with civil rights attorneys and community leaders. It was tasked with gathering videos and eyewitness testimony as evidence of what happened and keeping a record so perpetrators of illegal violence can be prosecuted or held liable for their actions. This is the first commission of its kind in the United States.

In the months since, the Illinois Accountability Commission conducted 16 in-depth investigations, took testimony from 60 eyewitnesses, and reviewed hundreds of hours of footage from law enforcement bodycams, neighborhood surveillance cameras, and phone cameras. This week, it held the final round of public hearings at which facts were revealed that the Trump administration tried desperately to hide.

The Commission heard from Brian Kolp, an attorney from Old Irving Park, who witnessed agents throw his 67-year-old next-door neighbor to the ground, causing several broken ribs and internal bleeding. Trump officials tried to paint the people peacefully protesting ICE operations as radicals, but Kolp set the record straight, saying, “These weren’t paid protesters. These weren’t activists. These were people who witnessed lawless agents acting in violent ways and came out of their homes to stand up for their community.”

Marimar Martinez, was sitting in her car, honking her horn, and yelling at CBP for their brutality, when she was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent. She told the Committee what it was like to watch federal agents attempt to cover up their blatant misconduct. She described being discharged from the hospital and immediately arrested on falsified assault charges. The Department of Homeland Security called her a “domestic terrorist.” It was all a lie. Federal prosecutors were forced to drop the charges for lack of evidence, but that didn’t take away the trauma she and her family endured. Still, she insisted on telling her story. As she put it, “I’ve been judged. I’ve been criminalized. I’ve been shot. But I’m still here speaking, and I want change.”

The Trump administration does not want you to hear their stories.

They reveal that Operation Midway Blitz wasn’t about addressing a crisis of violent immigrants. It was about making Americans feel powerless in the face of the Trump administration’s unconstitutional attacks – and convincing the rest of the country that there is no use standing up to them. I am proud that in Illinois, we pushed back.

Armed with whistles and phone cameras, the people of Illinois reminded the nation that everyday people of conscience do still have power in America. That’s the Illinois playbook. The Illinois Accountability Commission honors Illinoisans’ bravery with action.

Justice will be delivered upon those who acted illegally. Soon, loyalty to Donald Trump will no longer shield you from the rule of law.

Illinois is ready with a mountain of evidence about what happened to us.

And we will fight for accountability until justice is done.