Overview
- After expedited arguments, a three-judge 7th Circuit panel left a district court order releasing hundreds of detainees paused, so those in ICE custody remain held for now.
- Judge Thomas Kirsch criticized the lower court for extending the consent decree and ordering releases of “potential” class members, while Judge John Lee pressed the government over tactics such as deploying blank I‑200 warrants.
- The detainee group at issue has narrowed from roughly 615 to about 450 people, with court filings indicating only 16 identified by the government as high public-safety risks.
- In a separate case, plaintiffs moved to dismiss with prejudice their lawsuit over agents’ use of force after Commander Gregory Bovino and many federal officers left Chicago; the 7th Circuit had stayed Judge Sara Ellis’s injunction as overbroad.
- The 2022 Castañon Nava consent decree remains central to the dispute, and plaintiffs point to body‑camera footage and depositions obtained during Operation Midway Blitz to argue agents violated its limits on warrantless arrests.