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https://www.wbez.org/immigration/2025/11/12/federal-judge-orders-release-hundreds-feds-deportation-midway-blitz-warrantless-arrests
Hundreds of people arrested and held in custody amid the feds’ deportation campaign in Chicago could soon be released on various conditions under a federal judge’s order Wednesday.
It’s not clear how many of the 615 people covered by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings’ order remain in the country. And the judge said he doesn’t want anyone released who poses a risk to public safety. He’s giving the Justice Department a chance to identify any such person.
But Cummings ultimately said he’s trying to restore the status quo that existed before the Trump administration recently changed its interpretation of immigration law. That policy shift subjected people across the country to mandatory detention who previously would have been given a chance at a bond hearing.
Immigration advocates have said that law only applies to “noncitizens who recently arrived at a border or port of entry,” not to people who have lived in the country for an extended period of time. And more than 100 judges across the country have apparently agreed with them.
But, Cummings noted in a hearing last month, “I do not think the government has appealed,” meaning no higher court has had a chance to weigh in.
The 600 or so detainees come from a list of roughly 1,800 arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Chicago area between June 11 and Oct. 7. Only about 750 of them remain in the country, and about 135 had final orders of removal or criminal convictions, according to Mark Fleming, a lawyer with the National Immigrant Justice Center.
Hundreds of people arrested and held in custody amid the feds’ deportation campaign in Chicago could soon be released on various conditions under a federal judge’s order Wednesday.
It’s not clear how many of the 615 people covered by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings’ order remain in the country. And the judge said he doesn’t want anyone released who poses a risk to public safety. He’s giving the Justice Department a chance to identify any such person.
But Cummings ultimately said he’s trying to restore the status quo that existed before the Trump administration recently changed its interpretation of immigration law. That policy shift subjected people across the country to mandatory detention who previously would have been given a chance at a bond hearing.
Immigration advocates have said that law only applies to “noncitizens who recently arrived at a border or port of entry,” not to people who have lived in the country for an extended period of time. And more than 100 judges across the country have apparently agreed with them.
But, Cummings noted in a hearing last month, “I do not think the government has appealed,” meaning no higher court has had a chance to weigh in.
The 600 or so detainees come from a list of roughly 1,800 arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Chicago area between June 11 and Oct. 7. Only about 750 of them remain in the country, and about 135 had final orders of removal or criminal convictions, according to Mark Fleming, a lawyer with the National Immigrant Justice Center.
