Evanston Police Chief Schenita Stewart has formally asked the Cook County State's Attorney's Office for guidance on whether federal immigration agents can be criminally charged over their conduct during an Operation Midway Blitz raid last Halloween that left a car crashed near Oakton Street and Asbury Avenue and residents pepper-sprayed and detained for hours. The request, sent to the office's Law Enforcement Review Unit, marks one of the most direct local attempts yet to hold federal agents accountable under state law for actions taken during the sweeping immigration enforcement operation that has rattled Chicago's North Shore suburbs for nearly a year.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Evanston police opened an investigation into alleged illegal use of force by federal agents stemming from the October 31, 2025 incident, and Stewart's office is now asking the Law Enforcement Review Unit to help determine the most appropriate path forward. The unit was created under a February 2026 policy from State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke, who has said no one is above the law, including ICE agents and prosecutors, according to the same report. That protocol, formally known as the Federal Immigration Enforcement Action Response Protocol, is designed to guide officers investigating potential misconduct and prosecutors reviewing the resulting cases, providing analysis of how a state might prosecute federal agents for alleged on-duty misconduct.
What Happened Near Oakton and Asbury
The Halloween raid at the center of the request has become one of the most cited flashpoints of Operation Midway Blitz's presence in Evanston. Federal agents were involved in a car crash near Oakton and Asbury during the operation, and the Illinois Accountability Commission's final report alleged that agents used excessive force against civilians that day, describing the actions as a brutal attack without apparent justification, per the Tribune's account of the report. Separately, as detailed by Patch, agents beat and pepper-sprayed bystanders, pointed firearms at residents, and detained civilians for hours during the raid.
Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss described last Halloween as among the most traumatic days the city's community had experienced, per the Tribune's report. Biss also criticized the FBI's investigation into the matter as not acting in good faith, and he has said federal agents allegedly used excessive force against civilians. The tension between city officials and federal enforcement did not end that day — ICE agents returned to Evanston in December for a follow-up immigration enforcement operation, during which Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino engaged in a heated public dispute with Biss in a Home Depot parking lot, according to the Tribune.
The State Commission's Findings
The Illinois Accountability Commission, established by Governor JB Pritzker under Executive Order 2025-06 and chaired by retired federal judge Rubén Castillo, released its 204-page final report on April 30, 2026, submitting formal criminal referral letters to prosecutors in Cook and Kane counties and to local police in Evanston, Chicago, Elgin, and Franklin Park, according to Capitol News Illinois. The commission identified Timothy Donahue, Thomas Parsons, and Edward Maxa as the federal agents involved in the Evanston events, and it concluded there was reasonable cause to believe the agents should be formally investigated, per the Tribune. The commission also found that federal agents may have violated agency policy, state and federal criminal law, and individuals' constitutional rights, according to its report as cited by the Tribune.
The FBI has opened its own investigation using Evanston Police Department case materials, the Tribune reports, though Biss has publicly questioned whether that federal inquiry is being conducted in good faith. Meanwhile, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office is reviewing Evanston's materials to determine what support it can provide, according to the same reporting. The Law Enforcement Review Unit investigates law enforcement officers accused of criminal offenses and determines whether charges can likely be brought against them.
Why Local Prosecutors Face a Steep Climb
Even with a police referral and a scathing state commission report in hand, Cook County prosecutors face formidable legal barriers to actually charging federal agents. Under the U.S. Supreme Court's 1890 ruling in In re Neagle, federal officers carry a form of Supremacy Clause immunity from state prosecution unless prosecutors can prove the officers acted outside their official federal duties or that their conduct was not necessary and proper to execute those duties, according to Protect Democracy. Any federal officer facing state charges for on-duty conduct can also automatically remove the case to federal court under 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1), where a federal judge — not a state jury — would decide whether pretrial immunity applies, per FindLaw.
Those hurdles help explain why O'Neill Burke's office designated the Law Enforcement Review Unit to make felony charging decisions only after local police departments complete investigations and present sufficient evidence, as detailed by WTTW News. A Cook County Circuit Court judge reinforced that structure in May, ruling that the State's Attorney's Office is not legally obligated to launch independent criminal investigations into federal agents without an underlying police referral, according to News From The States. That decision rejected a petition from community activists who had sought a special prosecutor, effectively placing the burden on local departments like Evanston's to build the case first.
A Wider Regional Reckoning
Evanston's request lands amid a broader wave of pushback against Operation Midway Blitz, which the Department of Homeland Security launched on September 8, 2025, staging hundreds of federal agents at Naval Station Great Lakes and racking up more than 1,500 immigration arrests across Illinois within its first two months, according to reporting cited by The Economic Times. Earlier this month, a coalition of Chicago-area activists, community leaders, and elected officials — including Cook County Commissioner Jessica Vásquez — filed mass criminal complaints at Chicago Police Department headquarters alleging crimes by federal immigration agents during the operation, per CBS News.
Federal claims tied to the operation have not always held up. Federal prosecutors dropped all criminal charges in November 2025 against Marimar Martinez, a Chicago woman shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in Brighton Park, after unsealed video and evidence contradicted federal claims that she had rammed agents' vehicles, according to WTTW News. In May, federal prosecutors were also forced to dismiss felony conspiracy charges against six anti-ICE protesters known as the Broadview Six following revelations of grand jury errors, as reported by The Marshall Project. Even as these controversies mount, federal officials have continued to push for expanded protections for ICE and Border Patrol agents, including proposals for liability insurance and gloves that deliver electric shocks, according to the Tribune.
Hoodline has previously reported on the fallout from Operation Midway Blitz across the region, including a Lakeview homeowner's federal lawsuit over a raid on his block and suburban teens who documented agents in the field during the operation's early months. For now, Evanston's fate rests with Cook County prosecutors weighing whether the city's investigative materials clear a legal bar that has proven difficult for accusers to reach anywhere in the country.
