Overview
- U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings directed provisional release under bond or alternatives to detention for detainees from DHS’s Operation Midway Blitz whose arrests likely violated the consent decree.
- Justice and Homeland Security must identify comparable cases and submit a list by November 19, with placements into bond or monitoring due by November 21.
- Advocates report roughly 615 people currently identified in custody for immediate review, while an estimated 1,000 to 1,100 have already departed the United States or been removed.
- The order follows findings that many arrests skirted limits on warrantless enforcement, with remedies including electronic monitoring and virtual check-ins; Cummings also signaled immediate release for a smaller group of 13 individuals.
- DHS criticized the ruling as a public‑safety risk and questioned the court’s authority, even as arrest tallies under the operation reached into the thousands, with ICE listing about 3,800 names and Border Patrol about 1,200, likely with duplicates.