A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the release of more than 300 people swept up in federal immigration enforcement operations in the Chicago area, ruling that many arrests likely violated a long-standing consent decree limiting warrantless detentions.
Judge Sets Strict Deadlines For DHS Review
As per an Associated Press report, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings' order follows a directive issued moments earlier requiring the Department of Homeland Security to free 13 people arrested in Illinois but transferred to detention centers in Texas, Missouri and other states. He found those detentions ran against the Castañon Nava settlement, which bars agents from arresting people without warrants except under special conditions.
Cummings gave DHS three tight deadlines. By Friday, the department must turn over details on the status and flight risk of 615 people who Immigration and Customs Enforcement allegedly detained without warrants between June and early October. By Nov. 19, DHS must provide up-to-date status reports on everyone arrested in Chicago by ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the same period.
Nonviolent Immigration Detainees Eligible For Bonded Release
Those not deemed security threats can be released on $1,500 bond and placed under monitoring, including GPS ankle bracelets, while high-risk individuals may remain in custody.
Government lawyers, speaking to Axios, said assembling the required documentation will be "a significant challenge" and indicated they may appeal.
Advocates Challenge ICE Tactics Under Consent Decree
Advocates hailed the ruling as a major rebuke to ICE tactics under "Operation Midway Blitz," the Trump administration's large-scale enforcement surge in and around Chicago.
"This case is going to show that all of this, all of the tactics from [Border Patrol Chief Gregory] Bovino, all of the tactics from ICE, have been unlawful in the vast, vast majority of arrests," Mark Fleming of the National Immigrant Justice Center told the Chicago Tribune.
As per a separate press release, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and the National Immigrant Justice Center first sued in March to enforce the Castañon Nava decree after ICE allegedly detained 26 people without warrants early in Trump's second term.
Read Next:
Photo Courtesy: photobyphotoboy on Shutterstock.com
