The Illinois Accountability Commission (IAC) released its final report this week examining societal instability events involving federal government actors in the Chicagoland area during the period surrounding Operation Midway Blitz.
The report draws extensively on data and analysis produced by the Cline Center for Advanced Social Research and its Firewatch Project. At the request of the Commission, the Cline Center conducted a systematic review of journalistic reporting and publicly available federal data to document protests, acts of political violence, and destabilizing governmental actions occurring in the region between September 1, 2025 and January 30, 2026.
The Cline Center’s analysis is presented in its report, Overview of Societal Instability Events Involving Federal Government Actors in the Chicagoland Area from September 1, 2025 through January 30, 2026. Using transparent and replicable methods, the study provides a minimum count of documented events based on credible news coverage and an independent analysis of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest data for the state of Illinois.
The full Cline Center report is part of an ongoing statewide data collection effort documenting societal instability events from January 20, 2025 through March 31, 2026. As data collection continues, future updates may identify additional events or provide more detailed classifications.