Can Illinois hold the feds accountable for immigration crackdown?
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 28 April 2026
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Summary
Specifically, a panel called the Illinois Accountability Commission has been conducting interviews and reviewing footage from last year's federal immigration enforcement crackdown in Chicago, known as Operation Midway Blitz.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker established the commission late last year to create a public record of the weeks-long immigration crackdown throughout the Chicago area.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's considered this where every day we go deep on one big news story. Today, Illinois, Operation Midway Blitz and the quest for accountability. |
| 0:08.9 | No, no. He's not doing anything to it. He's a citizen. He's a citizen. I just want my name back. |
| 0:22.0 | He's not an immigrant. |
| 0:23.4 | He was born and raised in Chicago. |
| 0:28.4 | That's a snippet from a video montage featuring dramatic scenes of the Trump administration's aggressive immigration crackdown last fall in Chicago, known as Operation Midway Blitz. |
| 0:34.5 | The minute and a half video, which shows arrests, vehicle stops, and Trump administration |
| 0:38.4 | officials opened the fourth day of hearings of the Illinois Accountability Commission. |
| 0:43.6 | Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker established the commission late last year to create a public |
| 0:48.2 | record of the weeks-long immigration crackdown throughout the Chicago area. |
| 0:52.9 | Good afternoon, Ms. Moriarty. |
| 0:55.5 | Hello. |
| 0:56.6 | Thank you for being with us here today. |
| 0:59.4 | Do you need a moment? |
| 1:00.4 | No, I'm okay. |
| 1:01.4 | Over the past six months, the commission has conducted interviews with 60 people, |
| 1:05.1 | including Evanston lawyer, Jennifer Moriarty. |
| 1:08.0 | Moriarty was thrown to the ground when she tried to film the aftermath of federal |
| 1:12.2 | agents slamming on their brakes, causing another car to hit them. |
| 1:15.6 | I got out of my car. I had my, I always had my purse around my neck like this, and I had my |
| 1:21.8 | cell phone, and I walked around to the side of the driver's side, and they had this young woman |
| 1:26.5 | on the ground, And I had my |
| 1:29.2 | cell phone out and I was going to start recording. And one of the agents that were right there |
... |
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