CHICAGO (NewsNation) — A federal appeals court in Illinois has issued a short-term administrative stay on the release of nearly 450 detained migrants who were scheduled to be freed from federal custody Friday.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals halted the release of the migrants, who were arrested in Chicago between June nd October. Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ordered that the detainees be freed on a $1,500 bond after attorneys challenged the arrests of the migrants.
Cummings ruled that most of those being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers do not represent a high public safety risk. More than 600 of the arrests were being challenged by attorneys, who argue that their apprehensions violate a 2022 consent decree involving the arrests of migrants without warrants or probable cause.
Yet the Trump administration pushed for the stay, with attorneys arguing Cummings “made a bevy of legal errors” that put public safety at risk and “cripple” immigration enforcement, the Chicago Tribune reported on Thursday.
The decision comes a day after the same appeals court issued a stay on another Chicago judge’s preliminary injunction against federal immigration officers’ use of force against journalists, protesters and clergy.
The court ruled that the injunction issued by Judge Sara Ellis was “overbroad” and “too prescriptive.” However, the court ruled that a quick appeal of the ruling could lead to a “more tailored and appropriate” injunction order.
In the case of the release of the detained migrants, the appeals court issued the stay but set a hearing date of Dec. 2 for arguments in the case.
The Trump administration presented a list of 615 detained migrants who have been held since their arrests. The migrants were arrested by federal law enforcement officers in the Chicago area, including some of whom were taken into federal custody during the recently completed federal immigration enforcement overseen by Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino.
Last week, it was determined that of the 615 migrants on the list, only 16 represented either a high risk to public safety or a high risk of leaving the country. Since then, a total of 57 detained migrants were deemed such a risk. Others on the list had either already been deported or had previously been released from federal custody.
Mark Fleming, the associate director of litigation with the National Immigrant Justice Center, told reporters after Thursday’s hearing that attorneys are “obviously disappointed” in the court’s ruling. But he said he appreciates the next hearing being set for when it was in early December.
Fleming said that the list of 615 detainees was taken from a bigger collection of about 1,800 people who have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Of the 1,800, about 750 are still in the United States, and 135 had previously been ordered to leave the United States or had criminal convictions, the report said.
“We appreciate the importance and care with which the 7th Circuit seems to be addressing this request for a stay and the opportunity that we will have on Dec. 2 to explain the myriad pieces of this case and why the relief that the district court has granted is so urgent and appropriate,” Fleming said Thursday.