Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is gathering evidence of alleged misconduct by federal immigration agents and creating a public database she says could help hold them accountable.
The ICE Accountability Project is a public database designed to collect and preserve evidence of “increasing misconduct” by federal agents during recent immigration enforcement operations. It collects videos, photos and witness reports to preserve evidence and make it easier to investigate incidents.
Lightfoot created the ICE Accountability Project in response to federal authorities’ so-called Operation Midway Blitz in 2025, when agents used militarized tactics in neighborhoods across Illinois and upended daily life for thousands of residents.
“What I saw unfolding on the streets of Chicago and Chicagoland [last fall] was incredibly alarming to me,” Lightfoot told Windy City Times. “Agents were obviously violating people’s individual rights and not respecting the First Amendment.”
Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor who ran the Chicago Police Board before being elected mayor, said she watched “with great frustration and alarm” as federal agents’ actions in Chicago escalated amid their immigration enforcement surge.
She pointed to the September killing of Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez in Franklin Park as one example of alleged misconduct. Villegas-Gonzalez was dropping off his children at daycare when an agent in an unmarked Jeep pulled him over and shot him in the back of the neck.
Weeks later, agents shot Marimar Martinez in Chicago after she followed Border Patrol vehicles while honking to warn neighbors that immigration agents were in the area.
Other examples of abuse of power in Chicago include federal agents sniping protesters with rubber bullets from the roof of the Broadview ICE detention facility and using tear gas and other chemical irritants against peaceful demonstrators, Lightfoot said.
“To my trained eye, I saw poorly trained, unsupervised agents who were empowered and had weapons,” Lightfoot said. “It was very alarming to me.”
But the agents involved in these immigration enforcement operations often wore masks and lacked clear identification, making it difficult for victims, journalists and investigators to determine who was behind the alleged misconduct.
Lightfoot said that anonymity is intentional—but it’s still possible to hold them accountable.
“Every agent still leaves clues,” Lightfoot said, noting that details such as uniforms, badges, equipment, tattoos and other physical characteristics can be used to identify who was involved in specific incidents.
The ICE Accountability Project aims to gather those clues in one place so they can be used in investigations, she said.
Officials in the Chicago area have continued to grapple with how to respond to the enforcement surge and allegations of misconduct by federal agents. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke have publicly disagreed about the scope of potential investigations into federal agents’ actions. The state’s attorney’s office later implemented a policy allowing prosecutors to pursue charges against ICE agents if a review of the evidence determines felony criminal charges are warranted.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in Minnesota recently opened an investigation that could lead to charges against federal immigration officers involved in the recent immigration crackdown there.
Lightfoot said local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors in Illinois also have the authority to examine alleged misconduct by federal agents. If those investigations move forward, Lightfoot said the ICE Accountability Project could serve as a resource.
“I hope that local law enforcement—the state’s attorney, Cook County sheriff [and] local police departments—will find the courage to do the right thing,” Lightfoot said.
Looking ahead, Lightfoot said the project was designed so it can expand beyond Chicago as immigration enforcement operations continue in cities across the country.
Immigration enforcement operations are continuing in cities across the country, including in Chicago—and Lightfoot said documenting incidents now could help investigators hold agents accountable later.
“There’s no statute of limitations on homicide,” Lightfoot said. “The problems they’ve created will outlive this administration.”