Marimar Martinez testifies at Illinois commission: ‘I just acted like any human being'
CHICAGO - Marimar Martinez, the 31-year-old who was shot five times by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in October, told an Illinois commission on Tuesday that she did not see her actions on the day she was shot as political.
"I just acted like any human being would act," Martinez said of her decision to warn neighbors about immigration agents in the Brighton Park neighborhood.
Martinez testified at the final hearing of the Illinois Accountability Commission, which examined the Trump administration's sweeping immigration enforcement operation this past fall. Tuesday's session focused on what commissioners and attorneys described as a lack of consequences for federal immigration agents' misconduct.
"Federal officials did not just tolerate lawlessness. They encouraged it. They shielded it. And they made a grand bargain with the agents: deliver arrests, occupy the city through fear, and we will protect you, even if you violate the Constitution," said commission Vice Chair Patricia Brown Holmes.
Martinez, a U.S. citizen and teaching aide at a Montessori school, was shot by Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum on Oct. 4 after a traffic crash on the 3900 block of South Kedzie Avenue.
Federal prosecutors initially charged Martinez but later dropped the accusations. Investigative material made public after the shooting revealed that Exum joked and bragged about the shooting in a text chat with colleagues, was called a "legend" by a fellow agent and received praise directly from his supervisor, Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino.
Former federal Judge Rubén Castillo, the commission's chair, signaled in closing remarks Tuesday that the panel was targeting potential prosecution as it presented evidence about Martinez's shooting and other incidents.
"This report needs to be evaluated by other states and by public officials in this state who can take appropriate action, starting with the Cook County state's attorney, who will be referred cases for criminal prosecution, because we know, as you've seen here today, the names of these agents, such as Agent Exum and others," Castillo said.
"We can only hope and pray that the changes we suggest are implemented so that this conduct is never ever to occur again on American soil," he said. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security didn't immediately respond to the commission's comments on its agents Tuesday.
The commission's final report, which carries no direct law enforcement power, is expected on Thursday.
Martinez also testified last week before a congressional committee in Washington, where she called for charges against the agent who shot her and broader accountability for federal immigration agencies. House Democrats at that hearing called for accountability measures for immigration agents who they said committed violence against U.S. citizens.
Martinez was one of two people shot by immigration agents in Illinois this fall, prompting calls for investigations by local agencies as federal officials called the victims domestic terrorists.
Video shown Tuesday also addressed the fatal shooting of Silverio Villegas González, who was killed in Franklin Park by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent during a traffic stop, as well as a raid at a South Shore apartment building on Sept. 30 and other incidents.
"We're going through some dark times, and I feel like my voice matters. … I'm tired of going through this and I just want change, and I'm asking for change," Martinez said. "I've been judged, I've been criminalized, I've been shot but I'm still here speaking."
Scores of citizens during the federal operation reported being detained without probable cause and sometimes injured by immigration agents.
Tuesday's hearing also examined a high-speed car chase on Chicago's East Side in October in which agents in an unmarked vehicle chased a Ford Escape, crashed and then ran into a Walgreens to handcuff a person as witnesses yelled in protest.
"The bad decisions of the agents came with no consequences, no discipline, no termination and no referral for investigation. This commission intends to change that," said commission counsel Luis Saucedo, who said the panel found several examples of individual agents who repeatedly used excessive force without facing discipline.
Witnesses, including former Illinois House GOP Leader Jim Durkin, also testified about concerns that federal agents could have a chilling effect on voter turnout at polling places in November's general election. The White House has said Trump has not discussed any such plans.
Gov. JB Pritzker launched the commission to scrutinize federal agents' actions during Operation Midway Blitz, which lasted 64 days from early September to early November. For a second consecutive day, the packed hearing room inside the Michael A. Bilandic Building in downtown Chicago on Tuesday saw hours of video and witness testimony detailing the monthslong aggressive immigration enforcement campaign. On Monday, the commission addressed immigration enforcement and use of force against residents in Little Village, Lakeview, Old Irving Park and suburban Evanston.
Constrained by the state's limited authority over federal immigration agencies, including ICE and Border Patrol, Pritzker said the commission's primary purpose was to collect and preserve evidence for potential use by a future Congress, a future administration or in legal proceedings.
Leadership from the Trump administration's enforcement efforts, including Bovino, who headed much of the operation before he retired this year amid criticism, declined to attend, the commission's lead counsel Ahmed Baset has said.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson on Monday criticized the hearing as an attempt by Pritzker to "smear our law enforcement" and invoked the death of Sheridan Gorman, a Loyola University student who Cook County prosecutors say was killed by José Medina-Medina, a Venezuelan migrant.
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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 9:20 PM.