DHS Accuses Federal Judge of 'Putting the Lives of Americans Directly at Risk' as He Orders Release of 615 Illegal Aliens
The Trump administration is breathing fire over a federal judge’s ruling that more than 600 illegal aliens arrested in its Chicago crackdown should be released within a week.
District Judge Jeffery Cummings, appointed in 2023 by then-President Joe Biden, ruled Wednesday that the arrests violated a Biden administration consent decree that limits the detentions of illegal aliens who are arrested without a warrant, according to WBEZ-FM, a Chicago public radio station.
And Department of Homeland Security officials are furious.
Tricia McLauglin, a DHS spokeswoman, said in a statement that Cummings is “putting American lives at risk,” according to Fox News.
“At every turn, activist judges, sanctuary politicians and violent rioters have actively tried to prevent our law enforcement officers from arresting and removing the worst of the worst,” the statement said, according to Fox.
“Now an activist judge is putting the lives of Americans directly at risk by ordering 615 illegal aliens be released into the community.”
According to CNN, to impose mandatory detention on illegal aliens arrested without a warrant, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents “must meet conditions like establishing probable cause that someone is in the country illegally, assessing their community ties and whether they could be a flight risk.”
For hundreds of those swept up in Operation Midway Blitz, a broad illegal immigration crackdown in Chicago, continued detention violates that decree, Cummings ruled.
(One of the cases affected by Cummings’ decision is Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano, the Colombian national and day care worker who became a cause célèbre among some on the left after her arrest at a pre-school on Nov. 5 after fleeing a DHS traffic stop.)
Cumming’s ruling, according to Fox, also attacked detention conditions for those arrested. Cummings wrote that many held at the Broadview ICE Detention Center, in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, were subjected to “unsafe and unsanitary conditions” including “overflowing toilets,” according to Fox.
However, Cummings’ order did give DHS officials time to identify detainees whose release could pose a threat to public safety, according to WBEZ. His order mandates the release date as Nov. 21.
It wasn’t clear Friday whether the Trump administration would appeal Cummings’ ruling. But it was clear that the ruling didn’t make the controversy go away.
In an interview Thursday with Fox News’ “America Reports,” Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino noted the danger federal agents have faced while trying to enforce immigration law — particularly in Chicago.
Bovino himself has been the target of a bounty offered by a leader of the Latin Kings criminal gangs.
He said the administration is not going to be deterred.
BREAKING: @CMDROpAtLargeCA just DESTROYED any hopes of illegals in Chicago after a judge ordered over SIX HUNDRED to be released. “We’re gonna go even HARDWR on the streets! If he releases those 650? We’re gonna APPREHEND 1,650 on the streets of Chicago!” LFG!!! pic.twitter.com/VtywPdetCR
— Luca Taner (@LucaTaner) November 13, 2025
“I think what’s important here to realize is that Border Patrol agents, ICE agents, and allied law enforcement teams, risked their lives to apprehend those 650 illegal aliens that that judge wants to release on the streets,” Bovino said (apparently meaning to say “615” instead of “650”).
“Those illegal aliens came from a myriad of situations, whether they were criminals or individuals that were taking jobs from Americans, you name it, that’s what they were doing.
“And I’ll tell you what’s going to happen is, we’re going to go even harder on the streets. If he releases those 650, we’re going to apprehend 1,650 on the streets of Chicago.”
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