Appeals Court Says Trump Administration Doesn’t Have to Release Immigrants Arrested Without Warrants For Now

An appellate court ruled on Thursday that the Trump administration does not have to release by Friday more than 600 immigrants on bond after arresting them without warrants, some as part of the Chicago-area “Operation Midway Blitz.”

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily stayed a lower court order requiring the government to release 13 detained immigrants without bond by noon Nov. 14 and another 615 on a $1,500 bond by Nov. 21. The Trump administration released at least 12 of the 13 immigrants the lower court ordered to be let go, a spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois told NOTUS earlier this week.

The court didn’t provide an explanation for its decision to stay the release of the immigrants pending a further decision. There is a hearing scheduled for Dec. 2.

The Nov. 13 order by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings said that immigration officials had violated a 2022 settlement prohibiting warrantless immigration arrests in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kentucky and Kansas. The National Immigrant Justice Center and the Roger Baldwin Foundation of the ACLU asked Cummings in March to enforce the settlement.

The appellate court’s decision is a win for DHS, which portrayed the lower court judge’s ruling as dangerous for the community.

In court filings, attorneys for the federal government identified 23 of the more than 600 people ordered released as a “high public safety risk,” which meant Immigration and Customs Enforcement could keep them in custody. The government cited some with previous criminal history, including convictions for driving under the influence, aggravated assault, and enticement and kidnapping of a minor.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s commander-at-large, Gregory Bovino, said Nov. 13 that the ruling would prompt a greater response from the agency that has been using increasingly aggressive tactics to arrest immigrants and detain protesters.

“We’re gonna go even harder on the streets if he releases those 650, we’re gonna apprehend 1650 on the streets of Chicago,” Bovino told Fox News.

But Cummings’ order specified that the government wouldn’t have to release immigrants it deemed a high public-safety risk.

It is unknown how many of the approximately 3,000 immigrants federal agents have arrested in the Chicago area since June 11 have been deported, but the judge ordered the defendants to produce more information about them.

The appellate court also sided with the Trump administration Wednesday in pausing a judge’s order restricting the use of tear gas, pepper shots, tackling and other immigration agents’ crowd-control tactics, Block Club Chicago reported.