CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – A federal appeals court has halted the immediate release of hundreds of immigrants detained during a large-scale immigration crackdown in the Chicago area, issuing a divided ruling that also permits the continuation of a consent decree governing warrantless arrests by immigration agents. The case centers on a 2022 agreement that restricts how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts arrests of individuals who are not primary targets of an operation. That agreement has become central to legal battles surrounding the Trump administration’s regional crackdown, which has resulted in more than 4,000 arrests.
A district judge previously ruled that the government violated the terms of the agreement and ordered the release on bond of over 600 detainees. The appeals court paused that order, noting that roughly 450 individuals remain in custody, and stated that the lower court exceeded its authority by mandating a blanket release without evaluating each case separately. At the same time, the court found that the administration incorrectly treated all detainees as subject to mandatory detention.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs expressed disappointment over the ruling but said they were encouraged that the court upheld the extension of the consent decree, which requires ICE to provide documentation for each arrest. Lawyers argue that many detainees—picked up between the summer and the early phase of the “Operation Midway Blitz” initiative—are being deported without fully understanding their legal options. Advocacy groups say they have also gathered information on hundreds more individuals who they believe were improperly taken into custody.
Representatives for the detainees vowed to continue fighting to reunite people with their families as quickly as possible. The consent decree, originally established after earlier litigation over 2018 enforcement actions, covers immigrants arrested in six states overseen by ICE’s Chicago field office: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, and Wisconsin. Though the agreement expired earlier this year, it has been extended until February, despite federal attempts to challenge that extension.