The head of the city’s police oversight agency announced Tuesday that investigators so far haven’t identified any immigrants as victims of “sexual misconduct” at the hands of Chicago cops.
Andrea Kersten, chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, told reporters at COPA’s offices in West Town that “an unprecedented amount of media attention and public scrutiny” prompted her to take the unusual step of disclosing early details of the ongoing investigation.
COPA was initially made aware of the allegations July 6 accusing one officer from the Ogden police district of “sexual contact with an unidentified, underage female migrant,” Kersten said. The allegations also suggested that several other unidentified officers from the district “may have also engaged in similar misconduct.”
“The source of the initial allegation was unknown,” she said. “But the information appeared to be circulating among various CPD and Office of Emergency Management and Communication, or OEMC, employees.”
In the ensuing weeks, investigators “have not identified any migrants claiming to be the victim of sexual assault or any form of sexual misconduct by CPD members,” Kersten said. As a result, COPA doesn’t have “sufficient information” to make a recommendation to strip any officer of their police powers, she said.
But over the course of COPA’s investigation, Kersten said other complaints involving immigrants have been lodged, including another unsubstantiated claim of unidentified officers from the Town Hall District “engaging in sexual misconduct” with an immigrant. She noted that a victim has not come forward in that case either.
Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara called the investigation a “witch hunt.”
“It also highlights the unethical techniques COPA uses to do investigations on just merely an anonymous complaint and a rumor to harass our department members’ spouses to ask questions that they have no basis for,” Catanzara said Tuesday.
The initial, explosive allegations became public the same day COPA was made aware of them, with a police spokesperson acknowledging the department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs was investigating the claims alongside COPA. The following day, the oversight agency announced its probe involved officers assigned to the Ogden police district and at least one immigrant.
One officer assigned to the district covering Lawndale and Little Village was accused of impregnating a teenager, law enforcement sources said.
Kersten noted COPA’s investigation could lead to administrative charges against officers, while CPD’s separate probe is criminal in nature. COPA has regularly briefed the FBI, the police department and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office on its early findings, she noted.
Internal Affairs Chief Yolanda Talley was expected to attend the news conference with COPA officials and Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st), but did not. Kersten referred questions about her absence to CPD.
Kersten said COPA is expending “significant resources” on its investigation, including canvassing 14 shelters. It also has begun working with advocates to contact members of the immigrant community. She asked for the public to be patient as the probe advances and called for new information.
“There can be profound and sometimes impenetrable barriers which prevent survivors of sexual misconduct from reporting their experiences or participating in our systems of justice,” she said. “These barriers are often magnified when an act of sexual misconduct is perpetrated by a person in a position of trust, such as a police officer.”
Kersten said “a comprehensive review” by COPA shows “a couple dozen” complaints involving police officials and immigrants dating back to 2022, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began sending busloads of migrants to the city.
That includes the allegations against the officers from the Ogden and Town Hall districts, along with claims of verbal abuse and unlawful detainment.
The sexual misconduct claims set off a firestorm that prompted city officials to quickly move dozens of immigrants from the Ogden district station at 3315 W. Ogden Ave., with Mayor Brandon Johnson calling the allegations “deeply troubling.”
Kersten said there’s no “specific end date in sight” to how long COPA will continue to investigate.
“Because we still are undertaking these investigative interviews, it depends on what comes out in some of those conversations and investigative steps,” she said. “But we intend to exhaust all efforts.”
Britt Hodgdon, a social service worker who has volunteered to help immigrants at police stations since March, was concerned about the wording of Tuesday’s announcement. Just because no one has come forward, she said, doesn’t mean an incident didn’t happen.
If a migrant were sexually abused and coerced by an officer, she said, expecting them to come forward on their own is unrealistic, because “it is not in their best interest.”
Hodgdon has long been concerned about the power dynamics at the police stations, because many asylum-seekers need a lot of support and are ripe for manipulation.
Volunteers have pushed the city to find other housing solutions; some people she’s helping have been sleeping on police station floors for as long as six weeks.
Hodgdon said better training is needed for anyone, including police officers, coming into contact with migrants, so that they “understand the signs of sexual abuse and trafficking and know how to intervene effectively.”
As of Tuesday, 827 newly arrived immigrants were still staying at police stations while awaiting a shelter bed, according to statistics released by the city.
In addition, 78 other individuals were waiting at O’Hare International Airport and Midway Airport for shelter beds to become available. And 5,313 people were staying at temporary city-run shelters, according to the city. More than 11,000 asylum-seekers have arrived since the first busload was sent to Chicago from Texas nearly a year ago.
The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said Tuesday it was standing by its call for the city to find housing solutions.
“These allegations, regardless of the results of any investigation, demonstrate the urgency with which the city must establish long-term solutions for temporary shelter as well as permanent housing,” said Lawrence Benito, the organization’s executive director, in a statement released after the allegations first surfaced earlier this month.
Contributing: Stefano Esposito
