Chicago-area ICE arrests challenged in court as 'unlawful,' DOJ contends enforcement follows US law

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The ABC7 I-Team got a closer look at what immigrant advocates say are illegal immigration arrests in the Chicago area.

The I-Team was in federal court following the plight of a Chicago-area family still waiting for their loved one's release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.

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Abel Orozco was taken into ICE custody in January in an arrest his attorneys say was illegal, as well as 24 other people recently arrested under increased ICE enforcement efforts.

Orozco a father, husband and undocumented immigrant, is the only plaintiff in the class-action "Castanon Nava" settlement lawsuit against the federal government. He is still in custody as his lawyers contend ICE agents violated the law and a 2022 settlement agreement when he was arrested without a prior warrant.

"Abel Orozco, he's been here 30 years, owns his own business," said Mark Fleming with the National Immigrant Justice Center. 'As he's in custody, his wife is battling breast cancer, and the family is potentially going to lose their home in foreclosure. If these are the worst of the worst. We're in trouble as a country."

The I-Team was in Northern District Federal Court on Friday as plaintiffs and the U.S. Department of Justice argued their case in front of the Honorable Jeffery Cummings, who said that there are, "Many things troubling me about these situations."

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Under the 2022 agreement, to arrest someone without a warrant ICE agents need to meet two criteria: Is there probable cause to believe someone is in the US illegally, and are they also a flight risk, a requirement immigrant advocates say is being flouted.

"We've been talking to hundreds of people being taken from our neighborhoods in similar ways," said Xanat Sobrevilla with Organized Communities Against Deportations.

Lawyers for the Justice Department say warrants were eventually obtained in many of these arrests and in some cases, it may be burdensome to assess flight risk on the spot. The judge said, "We don't know the magnitude of this problem" "it's impossible to tell"

Attorneys say the Feds are still holding Orozco because he has a decades-old removal order while many others have been released on bond.

"Mr. Orozco decided, very fearfully, decided to go back to Mexico to visit with his father, who had had a massive stroke," Fleming said. "And the reason he had done it is because he had missed the death of his mom, so he took that step. Now the country is punishing him, punishing his family."

The government maintained in court Friday that all of the arrests were lawful and did not violate the settlement agreement.

This case is ongoing and the judge made no ruling Friday, but it has major implications to how ICE conducts its arrests at a time where high-profile enforcement is a major priority for President Donald Trump.