Pritzker points to roadblocks to Midway Blitz shooting investigation

A year after a federal agent killed Silverio Villegas González during President Donald Trump’s high-profile immigration enforcement campaign in Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker held a moment of silence Tuesday inside a church in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood.

“May his memory be a blessing to us all,“ Pritzker said of Villegas González, as elected and community leaders bowed their heads under the high ceilings of the La Villita Community Church.

But in the time since Villegas González’s death on Sept. 12, 2025, in west suburban Franklin Park, challenges, including stonewalling by the federal government, have made the state investigation into his shooting “near impossible to complete,” Pritzker told reporters at an event noting the year since the launch of the immigration crackdown dubbed Operation Midway Blitz.

Many advocates and elected officials present Tuesday praised the community response to the immigration enforcement raids. They also commended state lawmakers for passing a package of policies to protect certain individuals from arrests at courthouses and ease the path to suing federal agents for violations of constitutional rights, among other provisions.

“Illinois cannot control federal actions, but we can control how we protect our people,” Democratic state Rep. Edgar Gonzalez of Chicago said. “We must stay vigilant.”

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The lack of prosecution against agents involved in Villegas González’s death and a number of other violent actions during the federal crackdown last year, as well as ongoing immigration enforcement in the Chicago area, were among the frustrations for some speakers.

“I’m frustrated with state’s attorneys and police departments that aren’t doing their duty,” Pritzker said in response to a question about how Cook County’s top prosecutor, Eileen O’Neill Burke, responded to allegations of misconduct during Operation Midway Blitz. “We have laws on the books that are not being prosecuted against people who, it appears to me, have broken the law. But we need those state’s attorneys to step up. It’s not just about the Cook County state’s attorney.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, called Pritzker’s remarks a “political stunt” and said agents who violate policies are held accountable.

“Governor Pritzker continues to refuse to do his job to protect his citizens from illegal alien crime and instead chooses to smear our law enforcement,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “ICE law enforcement officers are trained to use the minimum amount of force necessary to resolve dangerous situations to prioritize the safety of the public and our officers.”

Villegas González, 38, had just dropped off his children at daycare last September and was on his way to work when ICE agents pulled him over.

During the confrontation, Villegas González was shot in the neck before crashing his car, officials have said.

While Illinois State Police said they initiated an investigation months ago, “that investigation is dependent upon getting evidence,” and very little video is available, Pritzker said.

The federal government has not provided information that Illinois requested about the shooting, nor has it made agents available to give testimony, he said.

“So it makes it near impossible to complete an investigation,” Pritzker said, “when you know there’s evidence out there that you’re not able to receive because the Trump administration is unwilling to provide it.”

State police announced in May that the Franklin Park Police Department requested the Public Integrity Task Force investigate the shooting. After the investigation, the department said it would turn the case over to Burke’s office.

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Pritzker and others on Tuesday emphasized that the impact on immigrant families and economies is ongoing — citing, for example, recent University of Illinois Chicago research that spending by Latin American-born residents cratered around the time of Trump’s deportation efforts.

The response is ongoing, too, Pritzker said. The work of the Illinois Accountability Commission, which the governor created through an executive order in late October, “will continue this fall,” though it will hand over some of it to independent monitors, he said.

“We cannot let history forget what happens when a federal government uses law enforcement to terrorize innocent people. Accountability means documenting what happened and listening to people who experienced it, and it means refusing to allow fear, misinformation or the passage of time to erase the truth,” Pritzker said.