ICE officer charged with attacking immigrant rights activist in Chicago suburb

An off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer was charged with attacking a protester last month at a gas station in west suburban Brookfield, according to officials and the alleged victim of the attack.

Adam Saracco was charged with a misdemeanor count of battery in connection with the Dec. 27 attack at a gas station in the 9200 block of East 31st Street, according to Brookfield police and Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s office.

Robert Held, 68, said he followed Saracco from the parking lot of the suburban Broadview ICE facility and was filming as Saracco stopped for gas. Held said he was standing on the sidewalk when the ICE officer started walking toward him.

“He increased his pace, and he came upon me, and he threw me to the ground, and he tried to take my phone,” Held said in an interview. “What came out of my mouth was, ‘Calm down, you need to deescalate.'”

Held said people nearby began honking their horns, and Saracco eventually let him go.

Police said prosecutors “reviewed the case and declined to file felony charges, advising it was more appropriately charged as a misdemeanor.” The state’s attorney's office said the police department directly filed the charges after prosecutors recommended the misdemeanor charge following its review.

Held said police initially told him the case was being investigated as a felony because he was over the age of 60 and it occurred on a public sidewalk. He was later told prosecutors typically only charge felony battery in conjunction with another crime.

But Held was ultimately just grateful to see charges filed. “I’m pleased that there's going to be accountability and that justice will be done,” he said.

Held has been present at protests against President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign in the Chicago area, frequently posting to his social media pages. Last fall he was detained while protesting at Broadview and held inside the facility for eight hours.

Officials wouldn’t provide details of the alleged attack in Brookfield or confirm that Saracco works for ICE. His first court appearance was set for early March.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Saracco couldn’t immediately be reached.

An ICE official with the name of Adam Saracco has been named in a handful of lawsuits filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, all of which were dismissed.

In one case, filed in late 2016, an immigrant of African descent claimed Saracco and other ICE officials attacked him earlier that year at the ICE offices in Chicago. The man, James Chesire, said the ICE officers’ “demeaning, violent, and unprovoked attack involved physical assault, verbal assault, and excessive use of force, causing Mr. Chesire physical harm and breaking an inviolable constitutional trust.

“During this attack, several officers violently beat Mr. Chesire, at times while using derogatory racial slurs against him, with the goal of forcing him to endorse documents of unknown content, and of punishing him for not signing them without understanding their contents,” the lawsuit claimed.

After Renee Macklin Good was shot and killed by an ICE officer earlier this month in Minneapolis, O’Neill Burke’s office said ICE operations “have resulted in unnecessary deaths, broken relationships between law enforcement and our citizens, and an untold amount of terror unleashed on communities.”

Still, the office said it “does not conduct independent investigations into criminal conduct” and has no jurisdiction “over federal agencies or facilities.” Instead, it reviews “evidence appropriately collected by law enforcement” and makes charging decisions.

An off-duty Customs and Border Patrol officer was indicted last month in federal court on charges of “gunpoint sexual assaults” of four women in the suburbs in 2022. Officer Luis Uribe was ordered held in custody while awaiting trial.

Last year, ICE and CBP carried out a monthslong immigration enforcement campaign in the Chicago area, known as Operation Midway Blitz, which resulted in thousands of arrests and led to widespread protests, lawsuits and allegations of excessive force and racial profiling.

Since then, federal immigration enforcement officials have faced similar allegations while targeting Minneapolis and other cities.