An activist and attorney pushed Cook County prosecutors on Tuesday to file a felony charge against the federal immigration agent he says attacked him at a gas station late last year in suburban Chicago.Robert Held, 68, told reporters he followed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Adam Sa racco from the ICE facility in suburban Broadview on Dec. 27, then filmed as Saracco stopped for gas in Brookfield. Held said Saracco eventually started walking toward him and pushed him to the ground. Saracco appeared in court in Maywood earlier Tuesday for a status hearing in the misdemeanor battery case stemming from the incident. Held later told reporters that he now wants the Cook County state's attorney's office to upgrade the charge to a felony. “My hope and expectation is that the state's attorney will do the right thing and hold ICE accountable, and in this case, the agent that committed a criminal act against me,” Held said during a news conference outside the courthouse.Held argued that, because the alleged attack occurred on a public sidewalk and he is over the age of 60, the agent should face a felony charge. But he acknowledged that prosecutors haven't appeared receptive to this argument.Saracco’s attorney asked for a new court date Tuesday and “implied” there were mitigating factors that would justify a further delay of the case, Held said. Another hearing was scheduled for June 23. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Adam Saracco (left) and his wife walk out of the Cook County courthouse in Maywood on April 29, 2026.Giacomo Cain/Sun-Times Saracco is the first federal agent facing prosecution in Cook County in the wake of Operation Midway Blitz, the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign in the Chicago area last fall.Saracco has also 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 a 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.Former U.S. District Chief Judge Ruben Castillo, who led a state commission tasked with documenting the alleged abuses of Midway Blitz, joined Held outside the courthouse and urged Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke to “evaluate the agent’s misbehavior" and consider upgrading the charges against Saracco.“We do not understand why victims in Cook County are having to go through a very difficult process of seeking accountability,” Castillo said. “Our state's attorney should be more sympathetic to her victims than she currently is.”Last week, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Erica Reddick rejected the arguments of a broad coalition, including Castillo, that sought a special prosecutor to investigate allegations against federal agents. Reddick said it was up to local law enforcement to investigate and bring the cases to the state’s attorney’s office to review for charges.Castillo said the panel he led, which was assembled by Gov. JB Pritzker, found evidence that federal agents committed numerous crimes against members of the public during Operation Midway Blitz and hoped that law enforcement agencies would open investigations. Related ICE officer charged with attacking immigrant rights activist in Chicago suburb New body camera footage shows aftermath of ICE officer allegedly attacking activist near Chicago Cook County judge rejects push to appoint special prosecutor to probe Chicago area deportation blitz ...read more read less