Fight to release hundreds of detained immigrants returns to federal appeals court in Chicago

The fight to get hundreds of people released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody following their arrests last year in the Chicago area went back before an appellate court on Tuesday.

Last fall, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ordered the release of hundreds of immigrants whose arrests during Operation Midway Blitz might have violated a court order limiting arrests without a warrant or probable cause.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later blocked Cummings' order, finding he overstepped his authority on the blanket release of the detainees without assessing each case individually. 

On Tuesday, the case returned to the appeals court, as the two sides argued over whether the case was still valid, because many of the people whose rights were possibly violated have since been deported.

Of the original group of around 600 immigrants Cummings had ordered released, only about 200 are still in the U.S.

The American Civil Liberties Union and National Immigrant Justice Center have been arguing that those people were possibly arrested without probable cause or warrant. 

Attorneys for the ACLU and National Immigrant Justice Center have been working to prove their cases, and said they've been meeting with the federal government on a weekly basis to gather new information on individual cases.

"Don't give up hope," ACLU deputy legal director Michelle Teresa Garcia said. "To families that have people detained, we are working as fast as we can to review the documentation and, ultimately, the government is at fault for not producing things quickly and timely."

The federal government declined to comment.