A ruling by a federal judge could impact hundreds of Chicago and Midwestern immigrants who were arrested and detained by U.S. law enforcement.

A release order was issued Wednesday morning from District Judge Jeff Cummings, and came from a lawsuit brought by civil rights groups against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) after Operation Midway Blitz resulted in the arrests of thousands of allegedly undocumented immigrants.

Those arrests were allegedly in violation of a consent decree prohibiting the detention of individuals arrested without a warrant on immigration charges in the state of Illinois, with that alleged violation prompting a lawsuit challenging the detentions.

The judge ordered the release of 13 individuals before Friday, while another 615 individuals could be released on bond in coming weeks.

A stay was issued on the release of those 615 individuals until at least Friday, November 21, and a stay was also issued on deportations for any of those impacted individuals, according to court filings.

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