"I think this is a historic level of turnover within this narrow span of time... We haven't seen the likes of this before," said ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst Gil Soffer.
Soffer was a federal prosecutor in the Chicago office for six years, and he says the continued level of turnover at the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District is unprecedented.
"A loss of that much talent at that senior level is really significant for this office or any U.S. Attorney's Office, because, like any office or business, it needs people with experience, who are seasoned, who have been in leadership, who know their way around, not only a courtroom, but how to manage a team of people," Soffer said.
Prosecutors are assigned to one of eight sections in the criminal division. The chiefs lead those sections.
The I-Team has learned, since new U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros took over, seven section chiefs have left with one reassigned, including a prosecutor who resigned after serving as the chief of the criminal division, along with a top national security prosecutor.
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"Certainly, someone who's looking to take that job is going to have to ask, 'Why is everybody leaving?'" said Soffer.
The wave of departures is not limited to the Northern District of Illinois. U.S. Attorney's Offices nationwide have lost 14% of their workforce, going from 11,817 to 10,145, from December 2024 to December 2025, according to government data reviewed by the ABC7 Data Team. That percentage drop is even steeper in the Northern District.
"What is a local problem, is a national problem... Head count is really important when you have an enormous load of cases that you're handling, and that is the fact at these U.S. Attorney's Offices," said Soffer.
A year ago, the Northern District of Illinois told the I-Team they had 144 prosecutors.
Boutros was sworn in as U.S. Attorney in April. Under his leadership the office continues to shrink.
As of Friday, it had a total of 121 prosecutors, a 16% drop.
It's a result that's seen by some former AUSAs as an indictment of Trump administration priorities to try immigration related cases over white collar crime and corruption matters.
"The problem is if those priorities are not what applicants want and not what they're looking for in a U.S. attorney or assistant U.S. attorney position, then the department's going to be hard pressed not to lose people and to attract people," Soffer told the I-Team.
Just before this story aired, the U.S. Attorney's Office reached out to say since Friday, they have a new total of 125 prosecutors.
Since being named the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District in April of last year, the I-Team has repeatedly asked to sit down with Boutros for an interview, but he has declined.
He told us in a statement, "We thank our former Section Chiefs for their public service and wish them well in their future endeavors. We fully anticipated there would be leadership departures with the incoming Administration. All but one of the Section Chiefs who departed in the past year either took the government-wide early retirement offer or chose to leave the Office after the government-wide shutdown and after the launch of Operation Midway Blitz, a U.S. immigration operation that was the largest-ever enforcement surge in the Northern District of Illinois. We are fortunate to have experienced AUSAs who have stepped up to serve in leadership roles as Section Chiefs. Nearly all the new Chiefs appointed within the last year have extensive experience, including as federal and/or state prosecutors. In addition, we are energized by the fact that we are hiring dozens of new Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the Criminal and Civil Divisions, ten of whom started in the last several weeks with many more to be onboard in the near future. Many of our new hires come with significant experience, including substantial prosecutorial experience from across the country and will be able to hit the ground running. It's exciting to see the Chicago U.S. Attorney's Office be a magnet for such impressive talent."