'Worst of the Worst'? DOJ Figures Show 97.4% of 614 Detained Immigrants in Chicago Had No Criminal Record

President Donald Trump and his administration have claimed repeatedly that the immigration raids that have terrorized communities nationwide this year are focused on getting the "worst of the worst" off the streets and out of the country, but new detention data filed by the Department of Justice on Friday shows that only a tiny fraction of the more than 600 people who remain in detention in the Chicago area from raids over recent months have any criminal record, bolstering anecdotal evidence that many of those targeted for by ICE and federal border agents are hard-working, law-abiding members of society.

According to the Chicago Tribune:

The Trump administration on Friday released the names of 614 people whose Chicago-area immigration arrests may have violated a 2022 consent decree, and only 16 of them have criminal histories that present a “high public safety risk.”

The list was produced as part of an ongoing lawsuit alleging immigration agents have repeatedly violated the terms of the in-court settlement, mostly during “Operation Midway Blitz,” that puts a high bar on making so-called warrantless arrests without a prior warrant or probable cause.

The newspaper reports that of the 16 people arrested with criminal histories—representing just 2.6% of the total listed in the filing— "five involved domestic battery, two were related to drunken driving, and one allegedly had an unidentified criminal history in another country." None had criminal backgrounds that included worst-of-the-worst offenses like rape or murder.

Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ordered the government to provide more information about the more than 600 people being held in detention and suggested he would order their release if compelling public-safety reasons were not presented. While ordering the immediate release of 13 people he deemed were arrested unlawfully, Cummings gave the government until Friday to release the additional information on those being held.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the list of 614 detainees comes from a longer list of roughly 1,800 individuals arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Chicago area between June 11 and October 7, of which "only about 750 of them remain in the country." Most of the others were deported, and their criminal histories were not presented in Friday's disclosure.

The consent decree at issue, known as the Castañon-Nava settlement agreement, restricts the ability of ICE agents or others working with them to make warrantless arrests in Illinois.

“Communities throughout the Chicago area have been traumatized by ICE and other federal agents’ chaotic and violent actions in our neighborhoods in recent months, and potentially hundreds of families already have been permanently separated as a result of unlawful arrests and rapid deportations without due process," said Mark Fleming, associate director of litigation for the National Immigration Justice Center (NIJC), who is backing the legal case against the unlawful arrests and detentions in Chicago, after the order issued by Cummings on Wednesday.

"NIJC and our partners will continue to demand justice for our communities and accountability for the lawless administration we all are facing.”

During Wednesday's hearing, the judge suggested many of those who remain in detention likely have no history of criminal conduct and were targeted by federal agents simply for fitting a specific profile. As the Sun-Times reports:

Cummings said that 54 of those people were arrested at work, including 20 landscapers and four ride-share or taxi drivers. Twenty were arrested commuting to or from work, he added, and nine were arrested at a Home Depot or Menards, “presumably either seeking work or to pick up supplies.”

Seven were also arrested at an “immigration-related hearing,” Cummings said, while 11 were arrested in public places like a park, gas station or even a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru.

“It seems highly likely to me that at least some of those individuals are among the 615 detainees who are not subject to mandatory detention,” Cummings said. He also found them unlikely to be members of gangs, “assorted other ne’er-do-wells” or the “worst of the worst.”

Community members living in Chicago and its outlying suburbs, including Broadview, have expressed anger at Trump's ICE operations in the region, which have seen school teachers, childcare providers, day laborers, and other neighbors targeted and arrested.

On Friday, 21 people were arrested outside the immigration detention center in Broadview following a morning demonstration outside the facility.