A federal judge in Chicago has indicated that hundreds of people arrested under the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement initiative may soon be released on bond while their immigration cases proceed.
During a hearing on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings said he would order the full release of 13 detained individuals based on a 2022 consent decree that outlines how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may conduct warrantless arrests.
Cummings gave government attorneys until Friday to review a list of 615 detainees held in county jails and federal facilities to determine who may qualify for alternatives to detention, such as electronic monitoring, under the decree. He said he would issue an order for their release next week and temporarily paused deportation proceedings for those who could qualify for bond.
Attorneys representing detainees called the judge’s direction a victory and said they plan to pursue additional cases.
“All of the tactics of ICE have been unlawful in the vast majority of arrests,” said Mark Fleming, an attorney with the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center.
Fleming told the court that many of the more than 3,300 people detained in the Chicago area since Operation Midway Blitz began in September have already been deported or departed voluntarily. “We’re concerned they have no access to counsel and no understanding of what their situation is,” he said. “Nothing has been easy with this case your honor.”
Judge Cummings previously found that ICE violated provisions of the consent decree, which requires the agency to provide documentation for arrests of individuals who were not specific targets in enforcement operations.
During Wednesday’s proceedings, the judge cited examples of immigration agents arresting people at work, while walking outside, or while passing through a fast-food drive-thru lane.
“It also seems highly unlikely to me that any of these foreign nationals … fall into the category of what ICE has called the ‘worst of the worst,’” Cummings said.
The Trump administration has described its immigration enforcement actions as necessary to combat crime and protect public safety, while critics in Illinois contend that violent-crime rates were already declining and that federal intervention heightened tensions.
The consent decree applies to ICE operations but not to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, whose officers have drawn scrutiny for their use of chemical agents during immigration operations.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both agencies, has not released additional details about the arrests but has previously highlighted several individuals living in the country illegally who also had criminal records. DHS did not respond to a request for comment following Wednesday’s hearing.
The consent decree, extended earlier this year through February, covers six states under ICE’s Chicago field office jurisdiction: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, and Wisconsin.
