The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has once again pressed pause on a district court ruling — this time regarding a pair of orders issued by Northern District of Illinois Judge Jeffrey Cummings regarding the Trump administration's efforts to detain (and ultimately deport) hundreds of illegal aliens in the Chicagoland area as part of Operation Midway Blitz.
To add a little context, the orders stem from a class action lawsuit — Castañon Nava v. Department of Homeland Security — originally filed in 2018 by five individual plaintiffs and two immigrant rights organizations seeking to ensure that ICE complies with statutory regulations "when conducting warrantless arrests of persons who have not obtained lawful immigration or citizenship status in the United States." A settlement was reached in that case and approved by the court in 2022.
In March 2025, the plaintiffs moved to enforce the settlement. The judge now overseeing the case — Judge Cummings — entered an order on October 7 partially granting plaintiffs' motion to enforce the settlement. At a subsequent status hearing on November 12, Cummings signaled his intent to order the release of hundreds of illegal aliens who had been arrested by Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) or other federal agents.
READ MORE: New: Judge Signals He'll Order Release of Hundreds of Captured Illegal Aliens
Cummings followed through with that on November 13, ordering:
- the administration to provide the court with the names of the 615 individuals “not subject to mandatory detention and [lacking] final orders of removal,” and release any of those individuals not identified as a “high public safety risk” on $1,500 bond with enrollment in ICE's ATD (Alternative to Detention) program by November 14.
- the administration to "provide plaintiffs’ counsel with the names and threat levels (i.e., risk of public safety and flight risk) of the remaining approximately 3,000 to 3,300 individuals who have been arrested since June 11, 2025" by November 19.
The administration appealed Cummings' orders to the 7th Circuit, and the appellate court has now issued an administrative stay of those orders and set argument on the administration's motion for stay pending appeal for December 2.
Again, this is merely an administrative (temporary) stay from the appellate court to determine whether or not the court will issue a stay pending appeal. In other words, it doesn't carry quite the heft of the stay pending appeal issued by the 7th Circuit on Wednesday in Chicago Headline Club v. Noem (regarding the response of federal personnel to protesters who've been setting up shop outside the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility).
READ MORE: 7th Circuit Clips District Court's Wings on Chicago Immigration Enforcement
Still, it affords the administration at least temporary relief from the orders in question. It's not entirely clear from the court documents, but it does not appear that the administration has released the detainees in question since it immediately filed its appeal following Cummings' November 13 order.
As with all of these cases, RedState will continue to monitor the proceedings and report on any developments of note.