An appeals court on Thursday ordered a stay on the release of hundreds of people detained in the federal Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals approved the administrative stay pending appeal on the order that would require. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to place a subset of 615 people arrested by federal immigration officials during the operation into "alternatives to detention" programs or be released on bond, while a judge determines whether they were illegally arrested in violation of a 2022 consent decree that limited warrantless immigration arrests.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings denied the Trump administration's request to pause the release of the detainees.

But the new order by the appeals court means the release of the detainees has been placed on hold. Hundreds of immigrants won't be released from federal custody for at least a few more weeks, when they were supposed to be freed on Friday of this week.

In the meantime, organizations said they were looking to raise money for families so they can post bond if the time comes, and that has also now been put on hold.

Many families said they were looking forward to seeing their loved ones for the Thanksgiving holiday next week, while others added they were worried about their physical and mental health while in detention — and so they were hopeful they could settle their immigration cases while at home.

The ruling on Thursday crushed that dream.

Under the order, there will be no releases until at least Dec. 2, when each side will argue before a judge.

The National Immigrant Justice Center, which has been waging the case, said in a statement: "This is not the end…. We will now focus on preparing for that argument."

When CBS News Chicago spoke to Jasbleidys Hernandez on Wednesday, she had hope that she would see her husband, Omar Enrique Bautista Carvajal soon. He called during Hernandez's interview with CBS News Chicago.

On Thursday, Hernandez texted that she was devastated by the news that the appeals court had put a stop to her husband's potential release on bond from the North Lake U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Michigan.

"He's very disappointed, even more, he lost faith," Hernandez said through an interpreter.

Another woman spoke to CBS News Chicago anonymously through a Polish interpreter on Monday. Her partner had been detained in downstate Marion County, as she worried about health issues and a previous cancer diagnosis.

She said she is now starting to lose hope.

In September, the Department of Homeland Security launched Operation Midway Blitz in the Chicago area, which it said was in honor of Katie Abraham, who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run in January. DHS said the operation was to target "criminal illegal aliens."

But court documents show that of the more than 600 people detained by immigration agents in the Chicago area, only 16 of them have been identified by the federal government as a "high public safety risk" because of their alleged criminal histories.

Mark Fleming, an attorney with the National Immigrant Justice Center, has been arguing this case on behalf of detained immigrants.

"We have strong reason to believe that the vast majority of these people on this list, if not all of them, were violations of the consent decree and should be eligible for release," he said.

Fleming said those deemed to be a high public safety risk likely won't be released on bond, regardless of what the appeals court ultimately decides regarding Cummings' order. But he said the others should be allowed to go home to their families while their immigration cases are pending.

"It really demonstrates what these operations have really been about, which is it's not about public safety, it's not about crime prevention," he said.