CHICAGO (AP) — A commission formed to document alleged harassment and abuse by federal agents during an immigration crackdown in the Chicago area reviewed the wide use of chemical agents in its first public hearing Thursday.
The immigration operation, which started in September, has been marked by aggressive tactics widely denounced by judges, elected leaders, and a growing number of residents in the nation’s third-largest city and surrounding suburbs. Formed by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, the commission is the latest resistance effort by a Democratic-led state to the Trump administration’s federal intervention, which critics say is discriminatory and an overreach of executive power.
“It’s going to be impossible to forget,” said Rubén Castillo, a former federal judge who leads the commission, of the immigration operation. “The one thing we cannot do is accept this. This cannot be the new normal.”
More than 4,000 people have been arrested in the crackdown, during which there was a fatal shooting by federal agents, prompting multiple lawsuits and a new law shielding immigrants from arrests near courthouses, hospitals, and schools. Community leaders expressed that the operation has been devastating, most notably in Little Village—a neighborhood heavily impacted by increased immigration enforcement—as businesses and schools experience negative effects.
With no power to compel testimonies or enact legislation, the commission will gather testimonials and create a report by next year that aims to provide recommendations for future actions.
