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A federal judge has rejected the Trump administration’s bid to halt a decision that mandates the release of over 400 individuals apprehended in the Chicago area, including those detained during the “Midway Blitz” operation.
These arrests were made without warrants, a move the judge believes could potentially breach a prior consent decree that stipulates warrants are necessary for certain arrests.
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The court’s ruling demands that the individuals be placed under electronic monitoring after they post bond by Friday.
Among the detainees is Jilver Lopez. According to his wife, Marvella Severiano, Lopez is a fence contracting business owner in Waukegan.
Severiano recounted that federal agents detained Lopez on the morning of October 6 while he was en route to work near West and Washington in Waukegan.
“They are asking every single night, ‘Where is dad?’” Severiano said.
As a mother struggles to wipe her children’s tears each night as they beg for their father, the judge’s ruling could see her household whole again.
“They cry, but I had to tell them he’s working. They don’t know. They don’t understand what’s going on. But I try to do my routine like normal. But at the end of the day, it’s hard,” Severiano said.
Severiano said Lopez, a 34-year-old undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, came to the United States in 2013.
“They were supposed to be working that day. It was a Monday, and then they just took him,” Severiano said. “They never asked. They just took him. They broke the window from the car.”
After spending more than a month in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Oklahoma, Lopez is now one of more than 400 detainees a judge ordered to be released, after paying bond, as soon as Friday, pending an appeal.
While the Trump administration’s request was denied by a judge, attorneys on the case say the White House could still appeal.
ABC7 reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment but did not immediately hear back. In previous court filings, the agency argued that Congress stripped federal courts of their authority to grant parole to large groups of immigrants in ICE custody.