A Biden-appointed federal judge in Chicago is considering ordering the release of thousands of illegal migrants detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during its recent enforcement initiative, “Operation Midway Blitz.” U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings, appointed by President Joe Biden, has signaled he may impose what he calls “equitable relief” by requiring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to release individuals already under ankle monitoring or other court-ordered supervision.
The potential ruling stems from allegations by pro-migrant activists that ICE violated a 2022 consent decree signed by the Biden administration. That agreement, known as the Castañon Nava settlement, was brokered with the ACLU and restricts how ICE agents can conduct warrantless arrests of illegal migrants, particularly those without a prior removal order. Consent decrees are court-enforced agreements that can bind future administrations.
Activist attorney Mark Fleming claimed that ICE has unlawfully arrested over 3,000 illegal migrants under Operation Midway Blitz. “We’ve started to dig into the case file that they produced to us, and the vast majority are violations,” he said, arguing that ICE has routinely ignored the terms of the 2022 settlement.
Under the decree, ICE must determine in advance whether a target is unlawfully present and whether they pose a flight risk before making an arrest. Activist lawyers insist that these standards are not being met, and they are pushing for a court order that would compel mass releases of those detained in recent raids.
However, DHS attorneys counter that the federal judiciary lacks the authority to override immigration enforcement protocols set by Congress. They argue that only the Secretary of Homeland Security has legal authority to grant parole or release individuals from ICE custody. “Federal courts cannot order the Department of Homeland Security to release any aliens on parole because Congress has stripped them of that authority,” DHS attorneys stated.
If Judge Cummings moves forward with the proposed order, it would mark a significant judicial intervention into federal immigration enforcement, and could set a precedent that limits the ability of ICE to act independently of politically motivated court settlements.
