Appeals court issues mixed opinion in consent decree case as more immigration arrestees released

CHICAGO - As a federal review of warrantless immigration arrests in the Chicago area continues, a federal appeals court issued a mixed opinion Tuesday, confirming the Trump administration overstepped its authority by holding arrestees in mandatory detention but upholding the use of "I-200" field warrants by agents.

The dense, 91-page opinion from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals largely upholds a previous ruling in December over a 2022 consent decree known as the Castañon Nava agreement, which bars agents from making warrantless immigration arrests unless they have probable cause to believe someone is in the U.S. unlawfully and that the person is a flight risk.

The appeals court said U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings was within his authority to extend the consent decree last year after the plaintiffs accused the Department of Homeland Security under the new Trump administration of multiple violations of the agreement.

The majority opinion, written by Judge John Lee, also said the government had unlawfully ordered arrestees who were already living in the U.S. held under mandatory detention, under a law meant to be directed at people crossing the border without inspection.

"Given the statute's history, it is unreasonable to think that Congress in 1996 intended to subject millions of noncitizens to mandatory detention in the oblique, off-handed fashion that defendants claim," Lee wrote.

One member of the three-judge panel, however, Judge Thomas Kirsch III, disagreed. He said, given the statutory history, the "best reading" of the law is that "it covers all applicants for admission, including those who have reached the interior of the United States without having gained lawful entry into the country."

The panel also agreed that Cummings had overstepped his authority in ordering the release of people arrested with "I-200" warrants that agents filled out in the field.

The National Immigrant Justice Center, which represents the plaintiffs, said in a statement Tuesday that the ruling "essentially keeps us on the path we have been on since the appeals court allowed key parts of the district court's ruling to stand last November."

"Since then, we have worked with community partners and families of hundreds of people who have been arrested without warrants and detained by immigration, painstakingly reviewing individual arrest reports to identify violations of the consent decree, negotiating with the government to secure relief for people who were unlawfully arrested, and returning to the district court when the administration refused to budge," the statement read.

So far, the court has ordered the release of 175 people and forced the government to return bond payments or lift conditions of relief for 168 others, according to Mark Fleming, NIJC's director of legislation.

Many others who were arrested in violation of the decree, however, have been deported or voluntarily removed amid the slow pace of the litigation, foot-dragging by the defendants and the harsh conditions of detention that many immigrants faced, Fleming said.

"We intend to continue reviewing documents and conferring with the government with the goal of giving as many people as possible the opportunity to return to their homes and families in the United States," the NIJC statement read.

Fleming said while there are still more cases to review, the number has dwindled since Midway Blitz ended late last year, and the lawsuit was expected to wind down in the coming weeks or months.

A spokesperson for the Justice Department was not immediately available for comment.

The Castanon Nava decree was originally supposed to sunset in March 2025. Instead, after the second Trump administration began ramping up immigration enforcement efforts, lawyers for the plaintiffs alleged dozens of violations, mostly involving "collateral arrests," or the detaining of individuals who are not targets.

In his Oct. 7 order extending the consent decree, Cummings said Immigration and Customs Enforcement had improperly told its field offices over the summer that the consent decree had been canceled. Cummings also took particular issue with a practice by ICE agents of carrying blank I-200 warrant forms with them on missions and filling them out at the scene.

The 7th Circuit panel that heard the case included Kirsch, a Trump nominee who previously served as U.S. attorney in Hammond, as well as a pair of Democrat-nominated judges: John Lee, a President Barack Obama nominee, and Doris Pryor, who was nominated by President Joe Biden in 2022.

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