Chicago residents file police reports alleging crimes by ICE and Border Patrol agents
Nine reports detail assault, battery and attempted murder by federal agents during Operation Midway Blitz
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Chicago residents file police reports alleging crimes by ICE and Border Patrol agents
Photograph: Block Club Chicago (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Nine police reports alleging crimes by ICE and Border Patrol agents were filed at Chicago Police Department’s Area 3 Headquarters on 10 August 2026.
- The reports include allegations of assault, battery, murder and attempted murder during Operation Midway Blitz, a deportation campaign launched in October 2025.
- Marimar Martinez, shot five times by Border Patrol agent Charles Exum, said federal authorities have not disciplined him or interviewed her.
- The Department of Homeland Security called the filings a political stunt and said only federal agencies can investigate its officers.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 6 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 1 of the 7 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
86/100
Craft
95/100
Hype
30/100
7 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
None of the 6 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Residents of Chicago filed nine police reports on 10 August 2026 alleging crimes by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol. The reports were filed at the Chicago Police Department’s Area 3 Headquarters in North Center. The allegations include assault, battery, murder and attempted murder during Operation Midway Blitz, a federal deportation campaign conducted in the Chicago area in October 2025.
The filings were made by residents, lawyers and immigration advocates. Marimar Martinez, who was shot five times by Border Patrol agent Charles Exum in October 2025, was among those who filed a report. Martinez said federal authorities have not disciplined Exum or interviewed her about the shooting. The Department of Homeland Security said Exum has been placed on administrative leave and claimed Martinez and another driver ambushed federal agents.
The Chicago Police Department said it will review the reports to determine whether local or state law was violated. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office said it is committed to supporting investigations, including one into the death of Silverio Villegas González, who was shot and killed by a federal immigration agent in September 2025. The Illinois Accountability Commission, created by Governor JB Pritzker, recommended in April 2026 that Homeland Security conduct internal investigations and restrict agents’ use of force.
What the reports disagree on
The Department of Homeland Security said the police reports are a political stunt by Illinois sanctuary politicians. Block Club Chicago reported the department’s statement that only federal agencies can investigate its officers. The Chicago Sun Times reported that federal prosecutors have charged 33 defendants with non-immigration crimes linked to Operation Midway Blitz, including assaulting or resisting federal agents. The reports do not agree on whether the charges against those defendants were substantiated.
What the coverage left out
No right-rated outlet ran this story at all. None of the digests from left or centre-rated outlets mentioned the Illinois Accountability Commission’s recommendation that Homeland Security restrict agents’ use of chemical agents. The Chicago Sun Times digest did not specify which charges were dropped against Marimar Martinez or why. None of the digests reported the Department of Homeland Security’s claim that Martinez and another driver ambushed federal agents.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 3 times, most recently on 11 Aug 2026, 05:30, and will add the sides that appear.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
2 rated outlets
- The two left-rated digests led on the filing of police reports and the demand for local investigations. Block Club Chicago, whose full report is printed above, led with the residents’ allegations of misconduct and the failure of federal authorities to act. It quoted Cook County Commissioner Jessica Vásquez saying the filings were intended to make the push for local investigations harder to ignore. It also quoted Marimar Martinez: “The federal government has failed to act or even discipline Charles Exum.” The Chicago Sun Times digest focused on federal prosecutions of 33 defendants, noting that 25 were cleared and grand jurors refused to indict at least three.
Centre
4 rated outlets
- The four centre-rated digests led on the allegations of violence and lawbreaking by federal agents. ABC 7 Chicago’s digest described the reports as accusing agents of violence and breaking Illinois law. WTTW’s digest used the headline “‘Do Your Job’: Chicagoans File Police Reports Alleging Abuse by Federal Agents During ‘Midway Blitz’.” Patch and CBS News digests both led with the filing of police reports and the involvement of activists and elected officials. None of the centre-rated digests mentioned the number of federal prosecutions or the outcomes of those cases.
Right
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Read it at the source
7 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
2- Chicagoans Alleging Crimes By ICE Agents Seek Police Help After Feds ‘Fail To Act’ (opens Block Club Chicago in a new tab)
Block Club Chicago — is Block Club Chicago biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Tracking every known federal prosecution in Chicago tied to Trump’s deportation blitz (opens Chicago Sun Times in a new tab)
Chicago Sun Times — is Chicago Sun Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
Centre
4- Victims of ICE, Border Patrol operations accuse federal agents of violence, breaking Illinois law (opens ABC 7 Chicago in a new tab)
ABC 7 Chicago — is ABC 7 Chicago biased? Our profile of this outlet
- ‘Do Your Job’: Chicagoans File Police Reports Alleging Abuse by Federal Agents During ‘Midway Blitz’ (opens WTTW in a new tab)
- Activists To File Police Reports Alleging Crimes By Federal Agents In Chicago During Operation Midway Blitz (opens Patch in a new tab)
- Activists to file police reports alleging crimes by federal agents in Chicago during Operation Midway Blitz (opens CBS News in a new tab)
Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
1Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Chicago residents file police reports alleging crimes by ICE and Border…?
- Of the 6 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 33% are rated left, 67% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 7. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Chicago residents file police reports alleging crimes by ICE and Border… left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 6 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Chicago residents file police reports alleging crimes by ICE and Border… biased?
- Chicago residents file police reports alleging crimes by ICE and Border Patrol agents is one event reported by 7 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Chicago residents file police reports alleging crimes by ICE and Border…?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Chicago residents file police reports alleging crimes by ICE and Border…?
- 7 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What crimes are alleged in the police reports?
- The nine police reports allege assault, battery, murder and attempted murder by ICE and Border Patrol agents during Operation Midway Blitz. Marimar Martinez, shot five times by Border Patrol agent Charles Exum, filed one of the reports. The filings were made at Chicago Police Department’s Area 3 Headquarters on 10 August 2026.
- Why did residents file police reports against federal agents?
- Residents filed police reports after federal authorities did not act on allegations of misconduct by ICE and Border Patrol agents. Marimar Martinez said the federal government has not disciplined the agent who shot her or interviewed her. The filings follow a state commission’s recommendation for internal investigations and restrictions on agents’ use of force.
- How many federal prosecutions are linked to Operation Midway Blitz?
- Federal prosecutors in Chicago have charged 33 defendants with non-immigration crimes tied to Operation Midway Blitz, as reported by the Chicago Sun Times. Of those, 25 were cleared, including at least three where grand jurors refused to indict. Two defendants have pleaded guilty.
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
