Judge Jeffrey Cummings ruled in favor of the lawyers representing the detainees, who claimed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) violated a court agreement that limits the ability of federal agents to make arrests without a warrant.

The judge ordered the Trump administration to provide information regarding how many of the 615 migrants represented in the lawsuit are still in the country or have criminal records. Attorneys from the National Center for Immigrant Justice and the ACLU of Illinois say federal agents have arrested thousands of people in Chicago and Illinois during Operation Midway Blitz without a warrant or probable cause. Immigrant advocates argue that federal agents violated a 2022 court order. The Castanon Nava Consent Decree limits ICE's ability to make arrests simply out of fear that a suspect might escape before a warrant can be obtained. It should be noted that migrants with criminal records who pose a risk to public safety will not be eligible for parole. Those who are eligible could be monitored using alternative methods, such as ankle-tracking devices.

At the hearing held Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Cummings issued several orders that could potentially lead to the release of hundreds of people in the coming weeks.

First, Cummings ordered the release, no later than Friday, of 13 people identified by the plaintiffs as being unlawfully detained, and whose detention the government acknowledged as a violation of the settlement agreement. After the hearing, the lawyers expressed their hope that these 13 people would be released within the next 48 hours.

Second,Cummings ordered that a group of 615 people detained by ICE between June 2 and October 7 be released into the agency's Alternatives to Detention programs by Friday, November 21, on a $1,500 bond while their immigration cases are pending. Attorneys for the detainees expressed concern that some of those now eligible for release may have either voluntarily deported or been deported by the government, noting that this could mean several hundred people. The exact number of those ordered released who remain in detention centers is still unknown.