CHICAGO (WLS) — President Donald Trump’s pick to oversee federal criminal prosecutions in Chicago was put in place on an interim basis, and now that job has become permanent.

Andrew Boutros is the highest ranking federal law enforcement official in the state of Illinois.

He has now been officially appointed as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois by the U.S District Court in Chicago, his office announced Friday.

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Boutros hit the 100-day mark in his interim role earlier this month, running the powerful Northern District of Illinois office. The full court of district judges decided Boutros will now keep the job.

“I am deeply grateful that two branches of our government have agreed upon my appointment,” a statement from U.S. Attorney Boutros read in part. “President Donald J. Trump, acting through Attorney General Pamela Bondi, appointed me as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois on April 7, 2025. Then the full U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois met in executive session on July 21, 2025, and, pursuant to Title 28, United States Code, Section 546(d), approved my appointment as U.S. Attorney effective Aug. 5, 2025. I am thankful to Chief Judge Kendall and the U.S. District Court judges of the Northern District of Illinois for their confidence in me. It is an honor of a lifetime to have the trust and support of both the Executive (Article II) and Judicial (Article III) branches of our constitutional government.”

With a swish of a pen on April 7, Boutros assumed the interim role of U.S. Attorney overseeing the storied Northern District of Illinois.

Boutros’ appointment, executed at the behest of Attorney General Pam Bondi, came as an interim assignment. Federal statute mandated a 120-day window.

August 5 would have marked the 120th day of Boutros’ interim appointment.

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The I-Team has previously reported that the number of indictments from the Northern District of Illinois has dropped steadily since 2019.

Since April 7, when Andrew Boutros assumed top prosecutor job, a spokesperson says federal prosecutors in Chicago have filed 120 cases with 167 defendants, as of July 16. That’s a 30% increase over the same period last year, April 7 through July 15, 2024, where prosecutors in the office filed 92 cases with 117 defendants.

For the office that’s taken down drug lords and locked up a long roster of former governors and politicians, the U.S. attorney in charge dictates the direction of criminal prosecution.

“It affects everybody in the state,” ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst Gil Soffer said. “His priorities will make the difference between whether gun violence is pursued aggressively or isn’t, whether white collar fraud is pursued aggressively or isn’t, and so on. It’s a very, very important decision that affects millions of people.”

Under Boutros, the office continues to shrink. In February, the Northern District of Illinois told the I-Team they had 144 prosecutors. As of July 16, they had just 126, and that includes prosecutors who took the so called “fork in the road” retirement in cuts by the “Department of Government Efficiency.”

Despite that, a spokesperson said the indictments are up 140% for the first 6 months of this year over last year.