Court scrutiny of ICE mounts as judge rules warrantless arrests violated
order
[October 09, 2025]
By Jerry Nowicki, Hannah Meisel & Andrew Adams
CHICAGO — Texas National Guard troops arrived in Illinois on Tuesday
amid mounting judicial scrutiny of the federal government’s aggressive
immigration enforcement in the Chicago area.
The escalation of the federal government’s law enforcement presence came
the same day a federal judge ruled the Trump administration violated a
federal consent decree when arresting 22 undocumented immigrants without
warrants earlier this year.
That ruling came a day before a federal grand jury took the rare step of
declining to indict two protestors that federal prosecutors had charged
with resisting and assaulting federal officers.
And it came the same day a federal judge released two individuals — one
of whom was shot by ICE — as they await trial for allegedly assaulting
officers. In the hearing that led to their pretrial release, one of the
defendants’ attorney said body-camera footage contradicts the
government’s narrative that the protestors had rammed their vehicles.
Illinois and Chicago’s lawsuit against the deployment of federal troops
to the city, meanwhile, is scheduled for a hearing Thursday as federal
courts increasingly become the state’s main front for resistance to
federal shows of force.
Violation of consent decree
A Chicago federal judge this week found that ICE violated a consent
decree when it arrested at least 22 individuals without warrants earlier
this year.
The ruling, published Tuesday, extended the consent decree that limits
immigration agents’ authority to make warrantless arrests until February
and the judge ordered ICE to re-issue rules on probable cause to agents
nationwide.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings agreed with immigrant and civil
rights groups that faulted ICE’s new policy of having agents carry blank
warrant forms and fill them out at the scene of an arrest. The judge
ruled the use of what are known as I-200 warrants is “explicitly
designed” to get around the requirement that agents have probable cause
before arresting an undocumented immigrant.
Cummings pointed to last week’s raid on an apartment building in
Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood as an example of the harms of
bypassing probable cause. In the early hours of Sept. 30, roughly 300
federal agents — including some who landed a Black Hawk helicopter on
the roof — stormed the building, eventually arresting more than three
dozen people.
DHS claimed it was targeting alleged members of a Venezuelan gang, but
the chaotic raid and hourslong detentions extended to American citizens,
who were primarily Black. According to news accounts of the incident,
armed agents broke down doors at the 130-unit building, handcuffing
dozens of adults and children alike with zip ties and detaining them in
unmarked vans.
The judge noted a recent concurring opinion from U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote that although “apparent ethnicity
alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion” for immigration actions, it
can be a “relevant factor.” The justice went on to write that based on
reasonable suspicion, “immigration officers may briefly stop the
individual and inquire about immigration status,” but that U.S. citizens
or other legal residents “will be free to go after the brief encounter.”
But Cummings said that theoretical view clashed with the real-world
incident last week.
“One thing seems clear: ICE rousted American citizens from their
apartments during the middle of the night and detained them — in zip
ties no less — for far longer than the ‘brief’ period authorized by the
operative regulation,” the judge wrote in a footnote.
Settlement dates back to 2022
The Department of Homeland Security had agreed to the settlement under
the Biden administration in 2022, stemming from allegations of improper
ICE arrests during the first Trump administration. The three-year
consent decree was supposed to have expired in May, but immigrant and
civil rights advocates had asked for an extension.
That was supposed to have left the settlement in place as the judge
weighed the arguments.
But in June, a top ICE lawyer emailed all agency employees advising the
consent decree was dead and officially rescinding corresponding agency
policy restricting warrantless arrests.
Cummings declined to extend the consent decree another three years, as
the immigrant and civil rights groups requested, but ruled it could be
extended until Feb. 2.
But the judge also found ICE had been violating the consent decree since
at least January and February, when agents arrested at least 22
undocumented immigrants without warrants in Chicago and Missouri.
Cummings narrowly confined his ruling to the 22 cases the immigrant and
civil rights groups detailed in court filings and ordered their
conditions of release be lifted.
Cummings also ordered ICE to provide arrest documentation for all those
detained since June 11.
Though the Trump administration insists ICE is targeting undocumented
immigrants who have criminal backgrounds, reports have mounted of agents
arresting those with no history of illegal activity, detaining children
along with their parents and even handcuffing U.S. citizens.
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People gather outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement
facility in Broadview, Illinois on Oct. 4. The facility has become a
center for clashes between protestors and immigration officials.
(Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Adams)
Immigration and civil rights groups last week alleged ICE has
improperly arrested nearly 100 people since Operation Midway Blitz
began last month in Chicago and its suburbs, including a family
driving to church and grandmother who’s been in the U.S. for more
than two decades and works at a laundromat to support her
grandchild.
Cummings ordered ICE to report warrantless arrests monthly and to
meet with plaintiffs “to resolve the alleged violations consistent
with the rulings in this decision” before a hearing scheduled for
mid-November.
ICE narrative scrutiny
Judges have also shown increased scrutiny of the federal
government’s narratives surrounding recent arrests and altercations.
Immigration agents shot a woman, Marimar Martinez, in Chicago on
Saturday.
DHS officials alleged Martinez had a gun in her car and drove toward
officers before they opened “defensive” fire. A lawyer for Martinez
told a judge that body-camera footage contradicts that narrative and
shows an officer shouting “do something b—-,” according to the
Chicago Sun-Times. After the shooting, Martinez drove to a car shop
where employees treated her wounds before paramedics arrived,
according to the paper.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Heather McShain released Martinez and another
defendant, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, as they await trial on felony
charges that they assaulted a federal officer. The judge cited the
individuals’ lack of criminal history and strong community and
family ties in ordering their release.
The Chicago Sun-Times also previously obtained body-camera footage
of another ICE shooting that contradicted DHS’ initial narrative.
ICE agents fatally shot Silverio Villegas González on Sept. 12 in
suburban Franklin Park after he allegedly fled a traffic stop and
struck an officer with his car. DHS initially said the agent was
“seriously injured.”
Body-camera footage showed the agent and his partner telling local
police their injuries were “nothing major.” One agent said he was
“dragged a little bit” by Gonzalez’s car and his blue jeans were
bloodied and torn, while his partner suffered hand lacerations and a
knee injury, according to the Sun-Times.
Grand jury issues rare ‘no bill’
On Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Fuentes allowed
prosecutors’ motion to formally drop charges against two protestors
after a grand jury took the rare step of declining an indictment
sought by the feds, according to the Sun-Times.
Ray Collins and Jocelyne Robledo are a married couple who faced
charges of assaulting and resisting officers. At the time of their
arrest, they legally possessed loaded guns but did not brandish them
at authorities.
Authorities alleged in court documents that Robledo “pushed back”
agents who were controlling the crowd of protestors at an ICE
facility in suburban Broadview. Collins saw his wife being detained,
then allegedly yelled and charged at agents. The documents say an
agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
allegedly injured his thumb in the scuffle.
Bloomberg Law reported that a grand jury returning no bill of
indictment is an extremely rare occurrence, as the grand jury hears
prosecutors’ case but no defense case. But they’ve grown more common
amid the Trump administration’s growing shows of force.
The judge dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning the federal
government can bring new charges within 30 days.
Journalists, protestors sue
Also on Monday, a group of journalists, news organizations, unions
and protestors sued the federal government for an alleged “pattern
of extreme brutality in a concerted and ongoing effort to silence
the press and civilians.”
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Block Club Chicago, the Chicago
Headline Club, the Illinois Press Association, two journalist
unions, three independent journalists and four protesters.
The plaintiffs include Stephen Held, an independent journalist who
federal officials allegedly detained for several hours, and the Rev.
David Black, a Presbyterian preacher. Federal officials allegedly
shot Black repeatedly in the head with pepper balls and sprayed him
in the face with tear gas as he called them to prayer.
The lawsuit accuses the government of violating the journalists’ and
protesters’ First Amendment rights, the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act and the Fourth Amendment’s ban on excessive force
and unreasonable seizures, among other charges.
“The targeting of reporters and photographers covering
demonstrations outside the ICE facility is more than an assault on
the press — it’s an assault on the public’s right to know,” the
Headline Club’s Board of Directors said in a Monday statement. “When
journalists are silenced, the public loses access to the truth about
government actions.”
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