Immigrants in Illinois are finding success in challenging their detention in federal court. Many have been released from custody after filing habeas corpus petitions, which argue that their detention is unlawful. One such case is that of Nayra Guzmán, a 22-year-old immigrant who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in October.
Detention and Release
Guzmán, who had given birth to her daughter just 15 days earlier, was arrested along with her brother and mother. They were taken to an ICE facility in Broadview, where Guzmán was allowed to use her phone to call her father. Her father then contacted the family’s immigration attorney, who filed a habeas corpus petition on their behalf.
Before 2025, such habeas cases were rarely filed by people held in immigration detention. However, in the first 15 months of President Donald Trump’s second term, 274 immigration habeas cases were filed in the Northern District of Illinois. The vast majority of these cases were filed after the launch of Operation Midway Blitz, a federal immigration enforcement campaign that began in September.
Success in Court
Federal judges have ruled in favor of immigrants in 94% of the cases that have been decided, ordering the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to release them from custody or give them a bond hearing. The Guzmáns were detained for about 36 hours before a federal judge ordered their release, sparing them from transfers to immigration detention facilities in Kentucky and Michigan.
Carlos Estrada, a senior litigation attorney at the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center, said that it is unjust for the government to indiscriminately detain all immigrants without looking into their ties to the community and assessing whether they are a flight risk. “They’re just arresting thousands of people who often have been here for years, who have families and deep roots in the community and who are following the rules,” Estrada said.
The Trump administration’s mandatory detention policy for all immigrants who are deemed deportable has led to an increase in habeas cases. In July 2025, the acting ICE director issued a memo outlining the administration’s new guidelines for detention, saying that most immigrants picked up by ICE “may not be released for the duration of their removal proceedings.”
This policy has been challenged by many federal judges, who have ordered the release of immigrants or granted them a bond hearing. The Illinois Habeas Project, a partnership among the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, the Chicago Bar Foundation, the National Immigrant Justice Center, and other legal groups, has represented over 100 Illinois immigrants in habeas cases.
Original reporting: Block Club Chicago — read the source article.
