A state commission referred a report on violence by federal immigration agents — including multiple who detained three U.S. citizens in Evanston in October — to county and city officials Thursday, urging these officials to investigate and criminally charge the agents.
Border Patrol supervisor Tommy Parsons, agent Timothy Donahue, agent Ed Maxa and Customs and Border Protection officer Jose Martinez are among more than a dozen federal agents the Illinois Accountability Commission named in its report.
“We cannot be quiet until there is accountability and justice,” Gov. JB Pritzker said at a Thursday morning news conference.
The commission sent a referral letter and copy of the report to officials including Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke and Evanston Police Department Chief Schenita Stewart, state officials said at the conference.
In statements on Thursday, Burke’s office and EPD Commander Chelsea Brown indicated the officials had received the materials, though Burke’s office wrote it could only “bring charges after receiving a completed investigation from a law enforcement agency.” Brown told The Daily the report was under review.
An investigation brief released alongside the report stated that Donahue brake-checked a civilian vehicle just north of the intersection of Asbury Avenue and Oakton Street shortly after noon on Oct. 31.
In the minutes after, the federal agents arrested three U.S. citizens, including the driver of the vehicle, the report read. Agents kept them in custody “without probable cause, a reason for arrest or paperwork” for more than five hours, it continued.
According to the report, during the confrontation, Donahue drew and repeatedly aimed his pistol at bystanders, threatening to shoot. Parsons also repeatedly punched a handcuffed detainee in the head against the asphalt, it read. The report also stated that afterward, Maxa pepper-sprayed a community member “from close range, without warning.”
Donahue has faced particular scrutiny in previous public hearings. On Tuesday, the commission played videos of his “repeated misconduct” in Broadview, Illinois; across Chicago in Little Village, Brighton Park, South Chicago and Rogers Park; as well as in Los Angeles.
“Agent Donahue is the embodiment of the problem this commission seeks to solve,” said Luis Saucedo, the commission’s counsel, on Tuesday.
Parsons and Maxa did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Donahue and Martinez could not be reached for comment.
Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, called the report and referrals a “political stunt” in a Thursday statement to The Daily.
“Federal officers acting in the course of their duties can only be investigated by other federal agencies,” she wrote. “The states do not have the authority to run such an investigation.”
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Bluesky: @ryaninevanston.bsky.social
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