Judge signals hundreds held in ICE crackdown could be freed on bond

Hundreds of people who have been arrested and detained in the Chicago area during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown could soon be released on bond while they await immigration hearings, afederaljudge signaled Wednesday.

- By Sopuia TAREEN

During a hearing in Chicago, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings said he would order the full release of 13 detained individuals based on a 2022 consent decree outlining how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can make so-called warrantless arrests.

He also gave government attorneys a Friday deadline to comb through a list of 615 people detained at county jails and federal facilities nationwide to see whether they qualify for alternatives to detention under the decree, such as using an ankle monitor, while their immigration cases proceed. The judge said he’d issue an order for their release next week and, in the meantime, would temporarily pause any deportation proceedings for people who might qualify for bond under the decree.

Attorneys for the detainees hailed Cummings’ move asawinand said they planto bring more cases.

“All of the tactics of ICE have been unlawful in the vast majority of arrests,” said Mark Fleming, a lawyer with the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center.