The actions of federal agents during the Trump Administration's immigration sweep in the Chicago area will now be investigated and documented by a new state commission.
Governor Pritzker signed the executive order that establishes the Illinois Accountability Commission during a ceremony Thursday at state offices in Chicago's West Loop.
The governor says the commission is a response to the actions of ICE agents who have detained U.S. citizens, deployed tear gas on protesters and been involved in two shootings since the start of "Operation Midway Blitz."
"The federal government has chosen to treat the people of this country as an adversary," said the governor before signing the order.
The six-member volunteer commission will take testimony and hold hearings on agents’ actions and how they are affecting people. The chair is retired federal district judge Ruben Castillo, who says the panel expects to take a closer look at the fatal shooting by ICE agents of Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez last month in Franklin Park.
"There are serious questions about that shooting and that killing," said Castillo. "This cannot be the new normal in the United States of America or in Illinois, and this is what this commission will be investigating."
The governor says the commission will also create a record to make it easier for future leaders to eventually pursue criminal charges.
"(Agents) have given the impression their actions are immune from accountability," the governor said. "They are not."
The commission’s website will reportedly go live soon.