Biden deal with activists limits Trump’s ability to arrest illegal immigrants

By Jonathan Bilyk | Legal Newsline
The Center Square

A Biden-appointed federal judge has agreed to extend an agreement negotiated between immigrant rights advocates and the administration of former President Joe Biden – whose policies allowed millions of illegal immigrants into the country – to restrict the ability of federal immigration agents under President Donald Trump to arrest and deport illegal immigrants in the U.S.

On Oct. 7, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings issued a ruling that would extend the enforcement of a so-called consent decree that ended a class action lawsuit launched in 2018 by immigration rights advocates on behalf of migrants in the U.S.

That lawsuit was brought on behalf of five individual named plaintiffs and two immigration advocacy groups, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and Organized Communities Against Deportations.

The lawsuit accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of illegally detaining and deporting illegal immigrants without first securing proper “targeted warrants” clearly identifying the individuals ICE wished to arrest and deport.

The lawsuit was filed under the Trump administration during his first term in office.

However, the lawsuit continued until 2022, when Trump had been replaced by Biden.

The Biden administration promptly reversed a wide range of Trump administration policies, notably including Trump’s more stringent approach to immigration enforcement.

According to estimates published by the Migration Policy Institute, federal Department of Homeland Security data showed at least 5.8 million immigrants were allowed into the U.S. under the Biden administration, either under so-called “asylum” status or without any kind of authorization.

Other sources place that number far higher, with The Center Square estimating at least 14 million illegal immigrants who entered the U.S. from 2021-2024.

However, in 2022, the Biden administration agreed to settle the class action on behalf of illegal immigrants in Chicago federal court, further curtailing enforcement actions to locate, arrest and deport illegal immigrants.

Among other terms, the settlement agreement essentially forbade ICE from conducting “raids,” but rather generally limiting ICE to making arrests and deportations only in cases in which the agency first obtained targeted warrants against specific individuals the agency believes may be in the U.S. illegally or when officers can document probable cause for making a stop and detention.

That agreement further included a provision which would allow the so-called “consent decree” to be reactivated whenever immigration rights activists believe ICE may no longer be following the procedures required in the decree.

Amid ramped up immigration enforcement operations in and around Chicago, specifically including the so-called Operation Midway Blitz in recent weeks, immigration activists returned to federal court, asking Cummings to issue orders compelling ICE under Trump to abide by the terms of the decree agreed to by the Biden administration and under its considerably more lax approach to border and immigration enforcement.

On Oct. 7, Cummings agreed to that request.

The judge specifically rejected arguments from the Trump administration that the consent decree had expired, noting the activists and Biden administration explicitly included a provision in the agreement to hamstring any efforts by future presidential administrations to pursue any other enforcement policies or tactics than those allowed under the decree.

The judge agreed to extend the terms of the consent decree to Feb. 2, 2026.

It could require the release of an unspecified number of people currently in ICE custody. The order will at least apply to 22 people taken into custody by ICE during operations earlier this year. But some believe it could be interpreted to apply to hundreds more who have been detained amid alleged warrantless arrests and remain in custody.

The judge further ordered ICE to provide monthly reports to the immigration activist plaintiffs concerning agents’ operations, including identifying everyone taken into custody in the Northern District of Illinois since June 11.

Cummings was appointed to Chicago’s federal bench by former President Biden in 2023.