Ruling Rebukes Trump Administration’s Unlawful Expansion of Mandatory Detention
CHICAGO — Today a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit partially denied the Trump administration’s request to stay a set of decisions by Judge Jeffrey Cummings of the Northern District of Illinois regarding the Castañon Nava consent decree.
In October, Judge Cummings had concluded that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) violated the terms of the consent decree that it entered into in 2022, and the court extended the terms of that decree until February 2026. In a later decision, because of the government’s delay in negotiating about the release of people who Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agents arrested in violation of the decree, Judge Cummings ordered interim release of hundreds of individuals through ICE’s Alternatives to Detention program.
The Seventh Circuit concluded that the Trump administration is not likely to succeed on their arguments challenging the underlying extension of the consent decree. The court also preliminarily concluded that DHS’s primary legal argument “poses no obstacle to the release of those detainees who faced warrantless arrests.”
The court did, however, conclude that it was likely that Judge Cummings lacked the authority to order interim use of alternatives to detention for people potentially subject to unlawful arrest. On this issue, the court granted DHS’s stay, holding that class members must remain detained only until individualized assessments are completed regarding whether each class member was arrested in violation of the decree.
The court also concluded that DHS was not likely to succeed in its argument that all people who entered the United States without being inspected at a port of entry are subject to “mandatory” detention. Therefore, the court ruled, DHS’s position cannot be a barrier to release of individuals whose arrests were unlawful. This is the first federal Circuit Court of Appeals decision to address DHS’s unlawful interpretation of its detention authority, which has been rejected by close to 300 different federal district courts since the administration implemented it in September. The harmful policy, which has denied nearly everyone in ICE detention the opportunity to be released on bond or other conditions, has been central to the administration’s strategy to coerce people to give up their rights and accept “voluntary departure” from the United States.
Although the Seventh Circuit concluded the consent decree remains in place and individual adjudications may continue, the court granted the government’s request to stay its order for 14 days to permit the government to seek relief from the Supreme Court if it determines to do so.
“While we are disappointed that this decision will likely result in more delays in the release of our community members from detention, we are heartened by the court’s decision to reject DHS’s efforts to completely sidestep the terms of the agreement that they entered into in 2022,” said Keren Zwick, director of litigation at the National Immigrant Justice Center. “The struggle of this case will continue, and we will hold the government accountable to the dispute resolution process regarding individuals who have been arrested in the past six months. We will work tirelessly to ensure that people who were unlawfully arrested will be able to return to their families and communities as soon as possible.”
“We are pleased that the Seventh Circuit recognized that DHS’s request for a stay of the district court’s order was not necessary,” said Michelle Garcia, deputy legal director of the Roger Baldwin Foundation of ACLU of Illinois. “It is also a win that the court acknowledged that DHS’s interpretation that all undocumented immigrants must face “mandatory detention” is contrary to federal immigration law. Although the Seventh Circuit stayed the district court’s order releasing the hundreds of people likely to have been arrested in violation of the decree, we will continue to determine if their arrests violated the decree and fight for their release. We look forward to addressing the underlying legal issues in the upcoming appellate briefs.”
The Seventh Circuit ruling was the most recent development in Castañon Nava v. DHS, No 18-cv-3757 (N.D. Ill), a class action lawsuit filed in 2018 by NIJC and ACLU of Illinois on behalf of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Organized Communities Against Deportations, and individual plaintiffs who had been racially profiled and arrested without warrants or probable cause during the first Trump administration.