Felony case dropped against DePaul student accused of spitting on ICE agent at Chicago's O'Hare Airport
Cook County’s top prosecutor abruptly dropped a felony case against a DePaul University student accused of spitting on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent over the weekend at O’Hare Airport.
In an arrest report, Chicago police said Brett Heier “intentionally and forcefully” spat on the ICE agent Sunday while leaving Terminal 2 at O’Hare. Heier, 20, was charged with felony aggravated battery to a peace officer and was ordered released pending trial during his first court appearance Wednesday.
By Thursday evening, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke had “personally reviewed the case and directed prosecutors to dismiss the charge,” according to a statement released by her office. The unusual move comes as O’Neill Burke faces mounting calls to investigate and prosecute immigration agents who carried out an aggressive deportation campaign in the Chicago area.
The statement didn't provide an explanation for dismissing the case, saying only that O'Neill Burke's office "continually evaluates evidence and reviews cases presented to us by law enforcement to ensure charging decisions are appropriate."
Heier's lawyer, Adam Sheppard, had insisted in an interview with the Sun-Times that the case was overblown. Sheppard argued Heier was only accused of spitting on the agent's shoe, and it may have been unintentional.
“It is comforting to know that the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office will exercise proper prosecutorial discretion,” Sheppard said after the case was dropped.
The alleged spitting incident at O’Hare came a week after President Donald Trump announced he was sending ICE agents to airports across the country to assist with security amid the fight over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
The government shutdown resulting from that funding fight has led to long lines at airports and staffing issues among Transportation Security Administration agents, who went unpaid from mid-February until Trump signed an executive order giving them back-pay last week.
Employees of other DHS agencies, including ICE and Customs and Border Protection, have continued to earn paychecks because they’re being funded by Trump’s domestic policy bill passed over the summer.
The shutdown was prompted by Democrats’ unanswered calls for reforms after two U.S. citizens were fatally shot during an immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota earlier this year.
O'Neill Burke has said she’s legally handcuffed when it comes to targeting the feds who carried out the earlier campaign in the Chicago area — even as legal efforts have been launched to install a special prosecutor in her office to do just that.