The Chicago-area federal judge also made clear he wants detailed reports about more than 600 people being held.
CHICAGO — A federal judge Wednesday ordered the release of more than 300 people detained by the federal government as part of the federal immigration enforcement operations being conducted in the Chicago area.
Attorneys say the government violated a federal consent decree by making arrests without warrants.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ordered the Department of Justice to release 13 detainees — who were rounded up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in “Operation Midway Blitz” — on bond by Friday and wants detailed reports about more than 600 others also being held.
Attorneys say as many as 300 of those immigrants are being wrongly held and could be released within days if they have no criminal histories.
“They need to provide a full list, plus what their risk assessment of those individuals are, so that we can start the process” of releasing them from detention, said attorney Mark Fleming after the hearing.
There have been more than 3,000 people arrested and detained since the Trump administration started its immigration enforcement efforts in June, attorneys for the plaintiffs said, but many of those detainees chose to leave the U.S. to return to their home countries instead of waiting for detention hearings.
Department of Justice attorney William Weiland called the ruling “quite significant” and asked the judge to stay any order of release immediately so that he could speak with his superiors.