Sandra Infante, a 39-year-old resident of Little Village, pleaded not guilty to felony charges on Dec. 15 following her arrest during an October confrontation involving protesters, immigration officers, and Chicago police in Little Village. According to court records, Infante was charged with aggravated assault to a police officer and aggravated battery to a peace officer after allegedly attempting to strike an officer with a rock and swinging at the officer’s face during the Oct. 23 incident.
The case has drawn attention from local advocacy groups who say it raises questions about protest rights and law enforcement responses. Members of Dare To Struggle, a group organizing against systemic injustice, have rallied support for Infante, noting she lost her job at a law firm after spending 48 hours in Cook County Jail following her arrest.
Infante appeared before Judge Jennifer Coleman at the George Leighton Criminal Court Building on Wednesday. The hearing was continued to May 7 as her new attorney Sheryl Weikal requested more time for discovery. During the hearing, Coleman said, “This case is getting a little old for the nature of the charges.”
Weikal said she looked forward to establishing Infante’s innocence and found “it interesting that there are charges against Ms. Infante and not charges against anyone who was employed by ICE.” The office of Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke declined to comment on the case.
The events leading up to Infante’s arrest occurred during Operation Midway Blitz when federal agents deployed tear gas and pepper spray at protesters near 26th Street and Sacramento Avenue. Chicago Police Department officers responded to multiple calls for assistance from federal agents that morning. In statements provided previously, CPD said their officers were present only for crowd control and public safety.
Prosecutors allege that an officer saw Infante pick up a rock despite verbal commands to drop it and later accused her of kicking an officer while being placed into custody. It remains unclear if any officers were injured during the incident.
Before this week’s hearing, Dare To Struggle urged members of the public to contact prosecutors demanding that felony charges be dropped against Infante. Ezi Ogbuli from the group said, “We believe it’s right to rebel against ICE and are demanding Burke drop the charges.”
A recent petition submitted by law firm Loevy and Loevy called for a special prosecutor to investigate alleged crimes committed by federal agents during Operation Midway Blitz. The petition criticized what it described as inaction by State’s Attorney Burke regarding these allegations.
Burke’s office previously told Block Club in an emailed statement: “The [state’s attorney] strongly supports freedom of speech protections and respects every person’s constitutional right to peacefully assemble, protest and express their views. At the same time, we have an obligation to review the evidence of each case that is referred to us by law enforcement to reach a just and appropriate resolution.” The statement added that prosecutors consider various factors when determining how cases proceed.
As of Wednesday, prosecutors have dismissed 48 protest-related cases.
