The Illinois Accountability Commission Patches Midway Blitz Wounds

The Illinois Accountability Commission begins patching up Operation Midway Blitz wounds, though preventative mechanisms remain deficient

Operation Midway Blitz exposed deep flaws in federal oversight — and made Illinois the first state to investigate federal agents.

This audio feature examines Operation Midway Blitz through the voices of an affected Evanston resident, an asylum and immigration law expert, and Governor Pritzker’s Illinois Accountability Commission (IAC). The accountability-focused story investigates the operation’s aftermath, including how it exposed systemic flaws within the federal government. It also reports on recovery and reconstruction efforts through IAC's response and its unprecedented decision to become the first state to investigate federal law enforcement conduct.

Featuring eyewitness Jennifer Moriarty, DePaul asylum and immigration law expert Sioban Albiol, and IAC Vice Chair Patricia Brown Holmes — with a closing word from Gov. JB Pritzker. 

Produced by Caitlin Walsh @caitlinhwalsh for Reparations Media NFP | In collaboration with DePaul Asylum & Immigration Law Clinic @DePaulLaw

Transcript

Change Agents S6 Walsh 

[00:00:00] Opening Montage: Every single illegal alien that is identified for removal is going to be successfully removed from this country.

ICE spell racist. ICE. ICE spell fascist. ICE.

We are not going to allow the trespass and invasion of this country anymore.

Because they are kidnapping children. They are ripping people from their families. You, Donald Trump.

[00:00:29] Caitlin Walsh: These are the sounds and echoes generated by President Trump's immigration enforcement campaign in the Chicago area last fall, also known as Operation Midway Blitz. I'm Caitlin Walsh with Change Agents: The Podcast. In today's episode, we look at Operation Midway Blitz, its aftermath, and its reconstruction efforts through the Illinois Accountability Commission.

During Operation Midway Blitz last fall, ICE and [00:01:00] CBP, Customs and Border Protection, agents swept through Illinois streets and neighborhoods, allegedly targeting criminal noncitizens. What really happened, though, was a different story. Agents detained both US citizens and noncitizens, often aggressively and without regard for any criminal history.

They entered homes without a warrant. They disrupted peaceful neighborhoods without a clear objective or let alone due process. Their repeated use of excessive force endangered protesters, bystanders, and even Chicago police officers. By multiple accounts, evidence shows that nonviolent protesters did not pose a threat to federal agents.

Yet ICE and CBP deployed tear gas, pepper spray, and a previously banned PIT maneuver, a law enforcement tactic used to stop a fleeing vehicle by striking its rear end, potentially causing it to lose control. The maneuver had been deemed too dangerous. These intimidation [00:02:00] tactics intended to silence those engaged in First Amendment protected activity.

The repercussions echoed far and wide. Meanwhile, a cascade of misleading statements obscured the deeper irony. This was a law enforcement operation that itself appeared to violate multiple laws. President Trump's Midway Blitz profaned people's civil and constitutional rights. One such victim was Jennifer Moriarty.

[00:02:29] Jennifer Moriarty: It was a Friday. It was Halloween. It was a gorgeous day. Sun was shining. It was absolutely spectacular. I was working from home that day, and the helicopters, probably 9:00 or so, just, you know, you started hearing them, and then they just kept hearing.

It was very unusual. It became extremely loud.

[00:02:52] Caitlin Walsh: Jennifer Moriarty is a trial lawyer by occupation and a longtime resident of Evanston, Illinois.[00:03:00] 

On Friday, October 31st, 2025, Halloween day, Moriarty was distracted by the noise of the helicopters overhead and took a break from her work. She drove to the dry cleaners a half mile away. On her way back, she stopped at the intersection of Oakton and Asbury when she heard a vehicle traveling at high speed and suddenly colliding with another.

[00:03:25] Jennifer Moriarty: Everybody jumped out of their cars. There were people that appeared on bicycles, and there were agents that pulled a young woman out of the, out of the red car that they had just caused an accident with. And they didn't just pull her out of her. They, they ripped her. They ripped her out of her car and slammed her face down onto the pavement.

There were whistles. There were people, you know, telling them to leave. Um, I walked with my camera. I had my phone out to start recording, and I just walked up, and an agent grabbed [00:04:00] me by the neck and threw me down on the ground and got on top of me. The... Just the, the sounds, the community, the, the people. I can see their faces.

B- Every time somebody came close, an agent would throw them or push them.

[00:04:17] Caitlin Walsh: Moriarty is describing the chaos that quickly transpired after the collision. Several witnesses say Border Patrol agents were roving the streets of Evanston that day in an unmarked SUV. Around 12:15 in the afternoon, one federal vehicle reportedly sped through the intersection and slammed on the brakes, causing the red car to rear-end them.

After ripping her out of her car, in Moriarty's words, the crowd grew in number as more people arrived on the scene. Some came to blow whistles and record on their phones. Some were trying to figure out what was happening. Others still were trying to help at the scene of a car crash. Marcelo Africano was one who came to help but ended [00:05:00] up severely beaten by federal agents and detained for over five hours.

[00:05:05] Jennifer Moriarty: And there was Mar- the young man. The young man was on the ground. He was screaming, just screaming. They were beating, beating him. I remember seeing an agent on top of him and another agent standing with one of that young man's legs up in the air, and he was twisting his leg, trying to twist it in, uh, 360 degrees, which would result in a spiral fracture.

If you look at videos from the scene, you'll see a moving truck, and he was helping his brother move, and they were just driving, and they saw an accident, and they saw people on the ground. I don't think he processed that they were agents and that the agents were attacking people. I think he thought that there were people hurt, and that's all he was doing, was coming up to [00:06:00] make... to see if people were okay, and they immediately grabbed him and just started beating him.

[00:06:08] Caitlin Walsh: The federal agents forced Moriarty, Africano, and the woman driver into the back of their vehicle. All US citizens, they were never given a reason for their detainment. Moriarty reported that they drove through Evanston and Rogers Park for over an hour.

The agents brake-checked and intimidated other vehicles on three separate occasions. They drove recklessly within a four-block radius containing four schools, a community center, and a retirement home. All the while, Africano was recovering from multiple blows to the head.

[00:06:42] Jennifer Moriarty: The young man, he needed help, medical help. He ne- he needed it, and they refused. They... It wasn't that they refused. They refused to acknowledge his repeated requests. He re- they refused to acknowledge m- me also requesting that he needed help.[00:07:00] 

[00:07:00] Caitlin Walsh: Hours later, the agents took the three detainees to the FBI facility downtown for investigation. They took pictures of Moriarty's driver's license and attorney ID.

Moriarty and the young woman driver were released without charges. Africano was charged with one count of assaulting federal officers. His case was later dismissed. Come Monday morning, Moriarty received an email from the federal government saying that her global entry status had been revoked. So far, this has been the only action they've taken against her.

Following these incidents, Agents Timothy Donahue and Thomas Parsons submitted reports that contradicted available video footage and witness accounts. As a result, the car crash was blamed on the young woman, and the beating of Africano was claimed to be justified. The Department of Homeland Security accepted the agents' version of events without conducting a thorough investigation.

People are left [00:08:00] wondering how the federal government could have engineered and executed a campaign that violated its own laws. What went so terribly wrong that the federal government not only permitted, but perpetrated an atrocious abuse of power? Midway Blitz revealed a regrettable accountability void lodged in the Department of Homeland Security.

Within DHS, several internal offices are meant to keep federal law enforcement in check. The Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties handles civil rights complaints. The Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman reviews conditions in detention centers. In March of 2025, however, DHS closed these offices.

It claimed they were internal adversaries that obstructed immigration enforcement. When several human rights organizations sued DHS for this unlawful closure, DHS reversed course, reopened the offices, but assigned only a small number of staff [00:09:00] to operate them. The Trump administration gutted staff and funding, appointed unqualified leadership, and made filing complaints far less accessible, creating conditions ripe for abuse.

Sioban Albiol is the director of the Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic at DePaul University's College of Law. Working closely with these offices in litigation, she has personally seen their capacity decline.

[00:09:25] Sioban Albiol - DePaul Asylum & Immigration Law Clinic: You know, if, if those operate-- offices are operating as they should be, they are, you know, proactively going out into the community, engaging the community to hear complaints, to hear what needs to be done better.

If the will is not there, which it is not, right? Um, then those, those things don't happen, those things don't function, right? Um, but it's really just a question of priorities within this administration, policies within this administration that Um, they're elsewhere within [00:10:00] ICE and with... Right? What, what's getting funded within CBP and ICE?

It's to build more facilities. It's to detain more people. It's to buy warehouses to detain more people. It's all about the detention piece without regard to standards or processes or rules.

[00:10:17] Caitlin Walsh: Seeing how DHS internal guardrails are subject to the whims of the executive, it raises basic questions about a structural conflict of interest.

How can Congress protect their independence and autonomy? Should Congress pass a bill to separate internal DHS oversight offices from political control? Should state and local governments have greater authority to oversee and hold federal agencies responsible for their actions? Albiol says that both internal and external oversight agencies are necessary.

[00:10:48] Sioban Albiol - DePaul Asylum & Immigration Law Clinic: I, as an advocate, can go to the ombudsman or go to CRCL with my complaint, right? Um, and that's a [00:11:00] tool in my toolbox to use, right? To try and effect change. It's not the only tool I'm gonna rely on necessarily, but it is a tool in my toolbox. Now, I have one less tool.

[00:11:11] Caitlin Walsh: Aside from the grassroots organizations that have responded to Midway Blitz, the State of Illinois has also risen for the occasion.

It is the first state to investigate misconduct by federal law enforcement. Governor JB Pritzker established the Illinois Accountability Commission within the Illinois Department of Human Rights. Vice Chair Patricia Brown Holmes explains the purpose of the commission.

[00:11:35] Patricia Brown Holmes - IDHR/IAC: The federal government has consistently failed to deliver accountability, and culpable agents are still roaming our streets.

The Illinois Accountability Commission was created to fill this accountability void, to catalog what happened, to investigate the truth, and to demand justice for the people of Illinois.

[00:11:59] Caitlin Walsh: [00:12:00] The Department of Justice has not demonstrated any will to investigate the agents involved, so what's left is local government and local prosecutors.

That's where Governor Pritzker's Accountability Commission comes in. The commission investigated and documented. Over six months, they conducted 16 in-depth investigations into flashpoint incidents. They spoke with nearly 60 eyewitnesses, held seven private community listening sessions, and reviewed hundreds of hours of video footage.

Then they summarized their findings, along with key policy recommendations, in a final written report. The commission submitted this report to local prosecutors, referring the matter to the Cook County State's Attorney, Kane County State's Attorney, and several police departments in the Chicago area. Now, the commission awaits a local prosecution.

As productive as this final report is, so much work lies ahead. The issue of DHS oversight offices [00:13:00] remains unanswered and untouched. How can these offices and other preemptive mechanisms be protected from political agendas? With that, a final word from Governor Pritzker. 

[00:13:13] IL Governor JB Pritzker: We can't let Americans forget the offenses that happened here in our cities.

They are an erosion of the most precious principles of our republic. Beyond the headlines and the propaganda are real people, members of our communities whose lives were and continue to be upended by the chaos that's been brought by the federal government. We cannot be quiet until there is accountability and justice

[00:13:47] Change Agents Narrator: Thank you for joining Change Agents, the podcast series looking at grassroots actions and solutions through stories told from the inside out. Change Agents is produced by Reparations [00:14:00] Media. The music is composed by Sarah Abdulla. Funding support is provided by the Chicago Community Foundation, the Chicago Community Trust, the Field Foundation, the Wayfarer Foundation, and the Lumpkin Family Foundation Subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, and wherever you find podcasts. And follow Change Agents on Facebook, Instagram, and our website changeagentsthepodcast.com.