Judge orders 32 detainees released over ICE consent decree violations, but some have already been deported
A federal judge ordered the release Friday of 32 people arrested during Operation Midway Blitz because of violations of a long-standing consent decree, including two people caught up in the military-style raid on a South Shore apartment complex last fall.
Many of the 32 people have already been released or deported, though. Regardless, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings said he wants the federal government to release those remaining in its custody by noon Thursday. He offered to let the feds argue for a “reasonable” extension of time, if necessary.
He also told them, “there’s no need to hold them until March 5 if they can be released more quickly.”
The judge said he’s still considering how to rule in the cases of five additional people, meaning his final written order could apply to as many as 37 individuals. He ruled from the bench Friday during a hearing at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.
Cummings said the individuals should be released “on their own recognizance, without conditions and without bond.” He considered the circumstances of roughly 50 people, following recent guidance and restrictions handed down by a federal appeals court.
The judge found that many of the people now set for release were arrested without a warrant, and that agents lacked probable cause to believe they would escape.
The ruling revolves around the so-called Castanon Nava settlement agreement. It restricts the ability of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and anyone working with them, to make warrantless arrests in Illinois and nearby states.
Mark Fleming, the associate director of federal litigation for the National Immigrant Justice Center who represents plaintiffs in the case, said “our singular goal right now is to get as many people out, where there were violations, as possible.”
“We sense an urgency because people have been stuck, unlawfully, in detention for months now,” Fleming told reporters after court.
Twenty-one of the 32 have already either been released or deported, Fleming later told the Chicago Sun-Times. That leaves 11 who will now released, while 10 more could also have restrictions on their freedom lifted.
The judge's order applies to Jose Miguel Jimenez and Jeickson Delgado Avila. They were among 37 detained during the Sept. 30 raid of the apartment complex at 7500 S. South Shore Drive.
The raid became an early flashpoint during Operation Midway Blitz, the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign.
Federal agents descended on the 130-unit complex from helicopters and used flashbang grenades to burst through doors. Residents reported seeing men, women and children pulled from apartments and zip-tied, some of them naked.
Records have shown the building’s owner, Trinity Flood, and property manager, Corey Oliver, gave “verbal and written consent” to search the building. Agents only checked units “not legally rented or leased at the time,” documents show.
Federal officials have said the surrounding South Shore neighborhood was “a location known to be frequented” by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. However, crime in the three blocks surrounding the South Shore complex has fallen in recent years.
Cummings in November also entered an order that aimed to release as many as 615 people who were held by immigration authorities and did not pose a high safety risk.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked that order in December but said many people could still be released if a judge made individual determinations about whether their arrests violated the settlement agreement.
That’s how Cummings spent the bulk of Friday’s hearing, which lasted roughly three hours.
Contributing: Sophie Sherry