Judge orders hundreds detained by ICE in Chicago area released over the next week, with hundreds more possible

A federal judge has ordered that hundreds of people detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement be released from federal facilities in the next week because their arrests by ICE were possibly unlawful and in violation of a federal court order.

Attorneys with the National Immigrant Justice Center and ACLU of Illinois say federal agents have arrested thousands of people in Chicago and Illinois during Operation Midway Blitz without a warrant or probable cause.

Immigration advocates argue federal agents violated a court order issued in 2022. The Castañon Nava Consent Decree limits ICE from making arrests simply out of fear that a suspect might escape before a warrant can be obtained.

On Oct. 8, a federal court ruled to extend the consent decree until at least Feb. 2, 2026. In that ruling, the judge said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE have violated the decree repeatedly, and improperly told field offices over the summer the consent decree had been canceled when it had not.

At a Wednesday hearing, the U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Cummings issued several orders that could possibly lead to the release of thousands of people in the comings weeks.

First, Cummings ordered that 13 people identified by the plaintiffs as being unlawfully detained, and which the government conceded were in violation of the consent decree, be released from detention by Friday. Attorneys said after court they are hopeful these 13 will be released from custody within the next 48 hours, if not today. They will be released without bond.

Second, Cummings ordered a group of 615 people detained by ICE between June 2 and Oct. 7 be released into the agency’s Alternatives to Detention programs by next Friday, Nov. 21, on $1,500 bond while their immigration cases are pending.

Attorneys for the detainees said they are concerned that some of the people who are now subject to release have either self-deported or been deported by the government, and said that could comprise several hundred people. The exact number of people who have now been ordered released who are still in detention facilities is not yet known.

Judge Cummings also ordered the government to produce a list of all people who have been detained both by ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents — thought to be more than 3,000 people — through the present day by next Wednesday, Nov. 19. That list must include information, including names, countries of origin, arrest date and a risk assessment.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said they will then go through the list to identify more people wrongfully arrested without warrants and probable cause and argue for their release from custody as well.

“I think it will show that this whole operation, for the last two months, the terrorizing of our neighborhoods, the brutalizing of people here, has all been unlawful. That’s what it’s going to show,” said Mark Fleming, attorney for the National Immigration Justice Center. “It’s going to show that all of this —all of the tactics of Mr. Bovino, all of the tactics of ICE — have been unlawful in the vast, vast majority of arrests. That’s what it’s gonna show. So if they plan to come back, now they’ll have to abide by these court orders going forward and they cannot do their enforcement in this way.”

The government will also identify people on the list who they believe are risks to public safety or flight risk, and argue for them remaining in detention. The judge said he will honor those requests as long as the list does not seem egregious. The government has already identified 12 people of the 615 ruled on today who they say are public safety or flight risks.

The judge also said that anyone released into ATD programs who is officially found to have been arrested in violation of the consent decree will have their bond refunded and will be considered completely released from immigration custody. Those in the ATD programs are still considered to be in custody, they are just not physically detained and must continue to appear for immigration check-ins and court hearings.

“This court does not sit in a position of making any policy for the government,” Judge Cummings said as he ruled.

Instead, he said, his position is to ensure the consent decree is enforced.

“There will be nothing for me to do if arrests made during this Operation Midway Blitz are within the decree,” Cummings said.

All parties are due back in court on Nov. 21.