A Biden-appointed federal judge in Chicago has ordered the release of hundreds of criminal migrants arrested by federal immigration agents during Operation Midway Blitz.
US District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ordered the Trump administration to release more than 600 migrants that the judge claims were arrested in violation of a Consent Decree. Cummings has given the Department of Justice until November 19 to release the targeted migrants, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Cummings signaled his decision earlier in the week when he said he was thinking of providing what he called “equitable relief” for thousands of illegals in federal custody after he determined that the agreement had been violated by immigration agents.
The decree was signed in 2022 when President Joe Biden’s agencies agreed to accept curbs drafted by the ACLU. Judges allow consent decrees to bind future administrations.
Cummings has ruled that migrants can pay a $1,500 bond and accept some sort of monitoring — including electronic ankle monitors — and to then be released pending the outcome of their immigration proceedings.
The left-wing judge claimed that many on the list were otherwise engaged in non-criminal activities and said, “It is highly unlikely any of them are criminal gang members, drug traffickers, or assorted ne’er-do-wells who fall under the category of what ICE has called ‘the worst of the worst.”
The judge also criticized ICE tactics including temporary detention and questioning and bemoaned migrants who have been “subjected to ICE questioning for sometimes lengthy periods of detention.”
“However, one thing seems clear: ICE rousted American citizens from their apartments during the middle of the night and detained them — in zip ties no less — for far longer than the ‘brief’ period authorized by the operative regulation,” Cummings declared in his ruling.
The district judge has directed activist lawyers for the migrants and the federal government to file a status report on his order by November 21.
DHS attorneys say that judges like Cummings have no standing to make such orders and that Congress stripped the federal courts of any authority to release any immigrants in federal custody.
The attorneys argue that “Congress has vested the authority to grant parole solely with the Secretary of Homeland Security… Federal courts cannot order the Department of Homeland Security to release any aliens on parole because Congress has stripped them of that authority.”
The Trump administration has not yet made a statement on Judge Cummings’ order. It is expected that the Department of Homeland Security will appeal the ruling.
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