Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has launched an \u201cICE Accountability Project,\u201d an independent initiative she said would collect and document federal immigration agents\u2019 alleged criminal or abusive conduct during Operation Midway Blitz.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA mask cannot shield agents from accountability, and there simply must be accountability for those individuals if we are a democracy,\u201d she said at a downtown news conference Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lightfoot said residents could send videos, audio, photos or other information to reporticenow.com<\/a>. The accounts will be published on the website and serve as a \u201ccentralized, permanent archive\u201d that law enforcement, elected officials, journalists and others can refer to, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The initiative from Lightfoot follows months of President Donald Trump\u2019s tense and heavy-handed immigration crackdown across Chicagoland as well as an agent killing a woman in Minneapolis Wednesday<\/a>. Agents arrested thousands<\/a> of immigrants, most of whom didn\u2019t have a criminal record<\/a>, during the Chicago operation. It also prompted numerous protests where agents repeatedly deployed<\/a> tear gas and pepper spray.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some of the most high-profile confrontations are already documented on the Report ICE website, including the federal raid on an apartment building<\/a> in South Shore and the nonfatal shooting<\/a> of Marimar Martinez in Brighton Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n Officials with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lightfoot\u2019s project follows on the heels of Gov. JB Pritzker launching<\/a> the Illinois Accountability Commission in October to scrutinize agents\u2019 actions in Chicago. The details may be used to hold the federal government accountable if Democrats regain control of Congress in this year\u2019s midterm election or the White House in 2028, he has said.<\/p>\n Pritzker\u2019s commission, led by former federal Judge Rub\u00e9n Castillo, held its first public hearing last month to primarily discuss agents\u2019 use of chemical crowd control weapons<\/a>. The commission is scheduled to release an initial report on its findings and recommendations by the end of the month. As of Thursday morning, no additional hearings had been scheduled.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Lightfoot said the primary goal of the state commission is thinking of policies or solutions to address the needs of residents, her project would focus on collecting information, though it was unclear exactly what it would be used for in the future.<\/p>\n Lightfoot said Thursday that she\u2019s known Castillo for a long time and believes the two initiatives will work \u201cin harmony with each other.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI am confident, both because of our personal relationships with people on the commission and as I said, I have a great deal of respect and admiration for Judge Castillo,\u201d she said. \u201cAlso our missions are different, but they can coexist and I think work in harmony together.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The project has no law enforcement authority and won\u2019t conduct criminal investigations, although Lightfoot said she hopes local jurisdictions consider doing so when agents cross the line. She also said they won\u2019t publish home addresses or \u201cpersonal identifying information\u201d of federal agents, but will list details like their clothing or vehicles they drive.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c(There\u2019s) phone videos, other information that\u2019s been collected by people that are out in these neighborhoods and on the front line, but it\u2019s dispersed amongst literally hundreds of different people \u2026 It could disappear just like that,\u201d Lightfoot said. \u201cWhat we want to do is gather that information in a centralized location, so that people who are inclined to do something, people who are in authority, have the ability to do that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n When an incident is submitted, there will be two levels of review, Lightfoot said. In the first review, volunteers will confirm the basic factors of a submission, such as date, time or location. In the second review, she said a team of \u201cexperienced investigators\u201d like lawyers or former federal agents will examine it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n She said \u201cunder no circumstances\u201d absent a court order signed by a judge would they divulge the identities of people who submit information to the project. She said they also hosted the website on a non-U.S.-based platform because \u201cwe are painfully aware of how certain U.S. companies have acquiesced to the unlawful demand of this federal administration and censored content.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The former mayor, who previously served in police oversight roles for the city, first previewed the concept for the accountability project in an interview with Fox 32 Chicago<\/a> in October.<\/p>\n