Courts and Immigration Enforcement

A federal judge, Paula Xinis, found there was no final removal order authorizing Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation and ordered his release from ICE custody at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center while issuing a temporary restraining order preventing ICE from re‑detaining him without a hearing, saying the government had “affirmatively misled the tribunal.” The ruling — which noted officials had proposed deporting him to various African countries despite his willingness to depart to Costa Rica and follows his earlier mistaken deportation to El Salvador and return after Supreme Court involvement — leaves him free under conditions tied to separate Tennessee human‑smuggling charges while the Justice Department plans to appeal.

A 7th Circuit panel narrowly blocked a district judge’s order to release hundreds of immigrants arrested in the Chicago-area enforcement action dubbed "Operation Midway Blitz," saying in a 2–1 decision that Judge Cummings overstepped even as it faulted the administration for treating all arrestees as subject to mandatory detention. The crackdown has produced more than 4,000 arrests, touches a six‑state consent decree (Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Wisconsin), and immigrant advocates like NIJC pledge to keep working to reunite detainees with their families as related federal rulings elsewhere limit warrantless arrests.