A group of community members, organizations and politicians are petitioning a court to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and potentially prosecute wrongdoing by federal immigration agents during the Trump administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” accusing Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke of failing to act.

The petition, filed Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court and signed by clergy, aldermen, county commissioners, unions and advocacy groups, outlines numerous clashes between agents and civilians throughout the fall, most seriously, the killing of Silverio Villegas González in September and the wounding of Marimar Martinez in October.

“The outrage across Cook County at the crimes committed by federal agents is palpable across the jurisdiction,” the petition reads. “Collectively, (the petitioners) represent a cross-section of the many citizens and residents of Cook County calling for accountability, investigation, and criminal liability for the federal agents responsible.”

Burke in a statement hit back on the request for a special prosecutor, calling it “frivolous, contrary to centuries of legal precedent and court rulings, riddled with factual errors, and ultimately hampers my office’s ability to hold ICE agents accountable.”

The petition is the latest effort attempting to find ways to hold federal agents accountable for alleged misconduct during immigration enforcement operations in the Chicago area. The issue of state prosecutors pursuing criminal charges against immigration agents has been a matter of public debate as well as the subject of an unusually public squabble between Burke and Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Several petition signatories gathered for a press conference Thursday afternoon in Federal Plaza.

“People are tired of hearing that nothing can be done,” said Marcela Rodriguez, co-executive director of Enlace Chicago, a community advocacy group in Little Village. “Someone needs to show this administration that no one is above the law, and the people of Cook County have already proven that we are not afraid to stand up for what is right.”

“We’re asking for an independent prosecutor who can look at all this evidence, take an objective view removed from politics — which is not going on right now — and make a decision about what charges should be brought,” Steve Art, an attorney for the petitioners, said Thursday.

Art added that a county judge will first hear the petition later this month.

With little faith in federal investigations, community members have pushed for state actors to provide accountability for violence perpetrated by federal agents, but Burke’s office has said the law only allows state prosecutors to pursue charges against on-duty federal agents in narrow circumstances. Her office has also said that it generally reviews cases that are referred by law enforcement and does not undertake boots-on-the-ground investigations.

The petition, though, said of Burke that “recent events demonstrate that the State’s Attorney is unlikely to take action to prosecute federal agents for their on-duty conduct during Operation Midway Blitz,” referencing her spat with Johnson over his “Ice on Notice” executive order.

The petition said Illinois law imposes a duty on the state’s attorney’s office to “investigate and prosecute criminal misconduct committed in their jurisdiction” and alleges that Burke has shown a “conflict of interest through her unwillingness to investigate, much less prosecute on duty federal agents.”

The petition noted that the only charges currently pending in Cook County are against Adam Saracco, accused of slamming a protester to the ground while he was off duty.

“What we’re asking for today isn’t radical,” Juan Pablo Herrera, pastor at Urban Village Church in Wicker Park, said during Thursday’s press conference. “We’re asking for accountability, we’re asking for leadership, we’re asking for the rule of law to apply to everyone.”

In her statement, Burke pointed to a protocol her office created to “hold ICE agents accountable within the confines of the law.”

“The reported plan to petition for a special prosecutor will make it more difficult for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office to prosecute and win convictions against ICE agents who break the law and secure justice for victims harmed by their conduct,” the statement said.