A Cook County judge ruled on Thursday she will not appoint a special prosecutor to investigate alleged crimes by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago last fall.
It was a full courtroom at the Cook County Criminal Court Building at 26th and California, where Judge Erica Reddick said petitioners did not meet the legal requirements to replace Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke in investigating and potentially prosecuting ICE agents.
However, Burke said afterwards that she remains, quote, "repulsed" by ICE's behavior, saying, "the ruling today does not change that. What the ruling today says is that the State's Attorney's Office has not abrogated our duty. That the facts that gave rise to this petition are not based on the law and the facts which would require a special prosecutor to be appointed."
Retired Judge Ruben Castillo is Chair of the Illinois Accountability Commission which has created a public record of the conduct of federal agents during Operation Midway Blitz. He told reporters, "All that's going to happen now is that all of these victims, all these children, their parents who were tear-gassed, police officers who were tear-gassed, they're going to go to police stations and they're going to file complaints. And the road is going to be a little bit longer and justice is going to be delayed."
