Chicago judge shoots down special prosecutor to investigate ICE

CHICAGO (CN) — A Chicago judge on Thursday thwarted the initiative to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate possible criminal conduct by federal immigration officers throughout the course of Operation Midway Blitz.

Judge Erica Reddick, the presiding judge of the criminal division of the Cook County Circuit Court, said in her ruling that petitioners were unable to show the state’s attorney abandoned her duties.

Attorneys for Chicago-based firm Loevy & Loevy filed the petition over what they described as a refusal from state’s attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke to pursue criminal charges against federal agents who violated the law during last summer’s immigration enforcement crackdown. The petition was backed by more than 400 signatories, including elected officials, community organizations, activists, religious leaders and journalists.

A special prosecutor is typically appointed when there’s a conflict of interest between the prosecutor and a would be-defendant. That conflict of interest could come in the form of something like business connections or political affiliations.

Petitioners cited the fatal shooting of Silverio Villegas Gonzalez and the nonfatal shooting of Marimar Martinez when they argued in favor of a special prosecutor before Reddick earlier this month.

They also pointed to an email the state’s attorney’s office sent in response to whether she’d sign onto a letter critiquing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in August 2025. The next month, President Donald Trump threatened to deploy the National Guard to Chicago. He was rebuffed by U.S. District Judge April Perry, a Joe Biden appointee, and eventually the U.S. Supreme Court.

“We obviously share concerns about Trump’s actions, rhetoric and bluster,” Matt McGrath, a spokesperson for the state’s attorney’s office, wrote in an email initially obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times. “At the same time, the state’s attorney’s top priority remains combating illegal guns, and to continue doing that effectively, we need to maintain our excellent working relationships with the local ATF and other federal partners. So, we will not be able to sign on.”

Reddick cited the emails while delivering her order on the petition.

“The court has found that the fact that a state’s attorney regularly works with a law enforcement agency alone is not sufficient to establish an actual conflict of interest,” the judge said. “The court has considered the state’s attorney’s policy, the protocol, its refusal to sign the joint order, the statements the state’s attorney made in internal memoranda and considering them under the law finds they are not sufficient to establish an actual conflict of interest.”

Yvette Loizon, an assistant state’s attorney, argued in court previously that the fear of political retaliation does not amount to an actual conflict of interest.

“The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office — and I dare say I’ll speak for the police — we do not scour the internet, we do not scour newspaper articles, we do not scour civil deposition testimony to find crimes that we can investigate and prosecute,” she said.

Loizon pointed to the 2017 Illinois Supreme Court case, People v. Ringland, which Reddick also referenced while delivering her ruling on the petition. She reiterated that it’s the duty of the police, not the state attorney’s office, to investigate criminal wrongdoing.

“The Illinois Supreme Court has spoken, and a state’s attorney lacks the authority to initiate and conduct a wide-scale investigation of crime without law enforcement,” Reddick said. “Since the state’s attorney does not have the authority to initiate and conduct a wide-scale investigation, it cannot be shown that the state’s attorney at least at this point, has abandoned her duties.”

Locke Bowman, one of several attorneys representing the petitioners, said while he greatly respects Reddick as a jurist, he’s incredibly disappointed in her decision.

“I could not disagree more with what happened this morning,” Bowman told a gaggle of reporters after Thursday’s hearing. “I could not be more disappointed. The reality is, as we have seen, that crimes were happening all around the Chicago Police Department.”

“They were victims of crimes, they were witnesses to crimes, they heard about crimes through 911, and through thousands of people came to them on the spot and said, ‘Lord can you stop this?’” Bowman continued. “So, the idea that the Chicago Police Department has somehow behaved adequately, is in my judgment, wrong.”

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