Man pleads guilty to felony for striking Border Patrol vehicle, marking first Operation Midway Blitz conviction
Published in News & Features
CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago man pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony charge stemming from a traffic altercation with Border Patrol agents in Brighton Park in October, marking the first federal conviction involving the protests and unrest sparked by Operation Midway Blitz.
Anthony Gonzalez Alvarez, 27, of Lyons, entered his plea to one count of failing to report knowledge of a felony, which carries up to three years in federal prison.
In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors have agreed to recommend no prison time for Alvarez when he is sentenced July 22. However, U.S. District Judge LaShonda Hunt said she wants to wait to see the presentencing report for Alvarez — who has a criminal record — before accepting the arrangement.
Either way, Alvarez is now the first of some 32 people to face federal charges stemming from the Trump administration’s two-month deportation campaign last fall, which sparked protests across the region and near-daily clashes between residents and immigration agents on the city’s streets.
As of Wednesday, 20 of the defendants had been cleared, either through a grand jury refusing to indict, the dismissal of charges by prosecutors, or, in the one case that went to trial, a not guilty verdict by a jury. The U.S. attorney’s office has entered into deferred prosecution agreements with three others that are on track to end without a criminal conviction.
Charges are pending against eight others, including the four defendants left in the “Broadview Six” conspiracy case against protesters who allegedly blocked and damaged an ICE agent’s vehicle outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in September.
Alvarez’s arrest occurred on the morning of Oct. 3, a Friday morning at the height of Midway Blitz when residents in caravans of cars had been following agents as they patrolled neighborhoods on Chicago’s Southwest Side. Later that weekend, a similar scenario ended with a Border Patrol agent shooting motorist Marimar Martinez five times.
According to Alvarez’s plea agreement, three U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents were part of a patrol in Brighton Park at about 10:30 a.m. when Alvarez, driving a black Ford F-250 pickup truck joined a caravan that had been following agents’ vehicles.
As the caravan turned right from 61st Street to go south on Kedzie Avenue, Alvarez drove his truck into the rear passenger side of the agents’ vehicle, causing about $1,300 in damage, according to the plea agreement.
The criminal complaint filed against Alvarez in October alleged that he continued following the agents after the collision but sped off after they shot pepper balls at his truck.
About an hour later, law enforcement located the black Ford pick-up parked in an alley behind a residence in the West Lawn neighborhood, according to the complaint. As agents conducted surveillance, they saw him leave a residence and drive away “at a high rate of speed,” the complaint alleged.
“Law enforcement followed Alvarez and activated their emergency lights to effect a traffic stop,” the compaint alleged. “The Ford pick-up did not stop and began driving erratically, including driving through a fence.”
At that point, officers discontinued the pursuit “out of concern for civilian safety,” the complaint alleged.
Alvarez admitted in his plea that he called Chicago police later that day and falsely reported his truck stolen had been stolen that morning.
Before entering his plea, Alvarez, dressed in a black hooded sweatshirt and khaki pants, told the judge he works as a general contractor and has three children, ages 11, 9, and 7.
When Hunt asked him if there was anything about the facts outlined in the plea agreement that wasn’t true, Alvarez shrugged and said, “No.”
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