❓WHAT HAPPENED: A federal judge ordered the release of hundreds of illegal immigrants detained in the Chicago area, citing alleged violations of a 2022 settlement agreement restricting warrantless arrests.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Cummings, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), and detainees.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Illinois, with the ruling issued on Wednesday. Detentions occurred during Operation Midway Blitz between June and October.
💬KEY QUOTE: “All of this, all of the tactics of [senior Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino], all of the tactics of ICE have been unlawful in the vast, vast majority of arrests,” said NIJC attorney Mark Fleming.
🎯IMPACT: ICE must grant bond to those still detained by November 21.
U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Cummings, appointed by former President Joe Biden, is ordering the release of 615 illegal immigrants detained in the Chicago area as part of the Trump administration’s “Midway Blitz” enforcement action. In the order, Judge Cummings claims the detentions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violate a 2022 settlement agreement that restricts warrantless arrests in Chicago.
Court filings reveal that between June and October, the ICE-led operation resulted in the arrests of over 3,000 migrants, with 615 still in federal custody—the other detainees having already been deported or agreed to leave the country of their own accord. Judge Cummings’s ruling requires those still detained to be granted bond by November 21.
Mark Fleming, an attorney with the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), stated, “All of this, all of the tactics of [senior Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino], all of the tactics of ICE have been unlawful in the vast, vast majority of arrests.” Fleming estimates that approximately 1,100 detainees have already departed voluntarily.
Far-left civil rights nonprofits claim ICE tactics are akin to racial profiling and have accused the agency of making unlawful arrests. One of the primary issues has been the practice of ICE arresting illegal immigrants at or near courthouses while on site to take other individuals into custody.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has until next week to comply with the court order and determine which detainees qualify for immediate release.
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