Police Chief Schenita Stewart has formally asked the Cook County State's Attorney's Office for guidance on prosecuting three U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents accused of beating, pepper-spraying and detaining Evanston residents during a federal immigration sweep on Oct. 31, 2025.
The request to the State's Attorney's Law Enforcement Review Unit, announced by Mayor Daniel Biss on Monday, Aug. 17, names agents Timothy Donahue, Thomas Parsons and Edward Maxa. It marks the first concrete legal step the city has taken since a state commission found "reasonable cause" in April to believe the agents violated criminal law and residents' constitutional rights.
"Here's the challenge: the Evanston Police can formally investigate this – they have," Biss said in his statement. "But embedded in that investigation lies a thorny legal question: what happens when conduct that would ordinarily constitute a prosecutable assault is perpetrated by a federal agent purportedly carrying out a law enforcement function?"
What happened on Halloween 2025
On Oct. 31, 2025, CBP agents converged on Evanston as part of "Operation Midway Blitz," the Department of Homeland Security's immigration enforcement campaign across the Chicago area. According to Biss, agents caused a car crash near Oakton Street and Asbury Avenue, beat and pepper-sprayed bystanders, pointed guns at residents and detained people for hours before releasing them without charges.
Body camera footage from Evanston Police Sgt. Daniel Keeler, published by the Evanston RoundTable in November 2025, showed agent Donahue pointing his weapon at onlookers while agent Parsons knelt on top of Chicago resident Marcello Africano. The commission later found Donahue and Parsons denied Africano medical care after his arrest.
The path to prosecution
The Evanston Police Department opened its own investigation almost immediately after the incident. The FBI also opened a probe and intended to use Evanston's case materials.
In late October 2025, Gov. JB Pritzker signed an executive order creating the Illinois Accountability Commission to investigate federal agents' conduct statewide. The commission's 204-page final report, approved unanimously on April 30, described the three agents' actions in Evanston as a "brutal attack…without apparent justification" and found they used "excessive force." The report drew on interviews with more than 60 people and nearly 100 hours of body camera footage from 250 videos.
Commission chair Ruben Castillo said at the April 30 vote to approve the report that the record was "overwhelming" and "devastating," adding: "They're shameful. They're brutal."
The commission transmitted its findings to the Cook and Kane County state's attorneys and to police departments in Chicago, Evanston, Franklin Park and Elgin.
Why the State's Attorney's office
Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke has said her office cannot bring charges until it receives a completed investigation from a law enforcement agency. A Cook County judge reinforced that framework on May 21, when Judge Erica Reddick rejected a petition to appoint a special prosecutor, ruling that launching investigations is the responsibility of law enforcement, not prosecutors. Reddick's ruling was without prejudice, leaving the door open for future petitions.
Stewart's request provides the kind of law enforcement referral the State's Attorney's office has said it needs. The Law Enforcement Review Unit is staffed by veteran prosecutors who investigate officers accused of criminal conduct and decide whether to bring charges.
What comes next
The State's Attorney's office has not publicly responded to Evanston's request. Whether the unit accepts the case and opens a formal investigation remains unclear.
Biss, who is the Democratic nominee for Illinois' 9th Congressional District and plans to resign as mayor on Oct. 18, called Halloween 2025 "one of the most traumatic days the community has experienced." The request lands in the final weeks of his tenure.
