A Venezuelan immigrant who was deported from the United States after being arrested in Chicago during the Trump administration's Operation Midway Blitz has returned to the country after a court fight found his removal was a mistake.
José Enrique Ojeda Duarte arrived back in the U.S. this week, ending a nine-month separation from his wife and two children, according to N+ Univision. In an emotional interview, Ojeda Duarte described what happened: "What they did to me is illegal," he told the network.
Ojeda Duarte had been arrested in Chicago in September during Operation Midway Blitz, the large-scale immigration enforcement campaign launched by the Department of Homeland Security in Illinois. He was later deported, but his attorneys challenged the removal in federal court, arguing that he should not have been expelled from the country.
A federal habeas case filed in the Western District of Texas shows Ojeda Duarte petitioned the court in January, naming immigration officials as respondents and seeking relief after his detention and removal. Court docket records show his attorneys later filed an emergency request for a temporary restraining order, and the court granted the motion in part.
Univision reported that after the courts determined his deportation had been an error, Ojeda Duarte was able to return to the United States, though his immigration case remains ongoing.
His return gives a human face to the legal and political fallout from Operation Midway Blitz, which began in September 2025 and quickly became one of the most controversial immigration crackdowns of Trump's second term. DHS announced the operation as a targeted campaign against what it called "criminal illegal aliens" in Illinois, while critics said the sweeps swept up immigrants with no criminal records and violated due process protections.
By Sept. 19, ICE had arrested nearly 550 people in the Chicago area, according to the Associated Press, less than two weeks after the operation began. Federal officials said part of the effort targeted people with criminal histories or final removal orders, but acknowledged that many arrests were "collateral," involving immigrants encountered during enforcement actions.
The crackdown soon faced legal challenges. In November, a federal judge in Chicago ordered the release of hundreds of people detained during Operation Midway Blitz, after finding that the government had likely violated a federal consent decree by making warrantless arrests. The National Immigrant Justice Center said the order could affect more than 600 people detained by ICE or CBP during the operation.
An Illinois Accountability Commission created by Gov. JB Pritzker later found that federal immigration officers misled the public, used unlawful force, denied due process and caused deep harm to families across the Chicago area. The commission said about 3,900 people were arrested and detained during the operation, and that 85% had no criminal convictions.
For Ojeda Duarte's family, the consequences were personal and immediate. His deportation separated him from his wife and children for nearly a year, leaving them to fight a legal battle across borders while he remained outside the country.
His case is not over. Univision reported that although Ojeda Duarte is back in the United States, his immigration process continues. But his return marks a rare reversal in a system where deportations, even when later challenged, can be extraordinarily difficult to undo.
For immigrant advocates, the case is likely to become another example of what they describe as the human cost of aggressive enforcement campaigns. For Ojeda Duarte, the victory is simpler and far more urgent: he is back with his family.
