The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement unlawfully arrested and violated the rights of 21 immigrants and a U.S. citizen during raids in the Chicago area and other Midwestern states during the first days of the second Trump administration, advocates and attorneys said Monday.
The National Immigrant Justice Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois filed a motion in Chicago’s U.S. District Court Thursday seeking the release of two people still detained and the enforcement of remedies to prevent unlawful arrests by ICE.
According to the motion, Abel Orozco, a 47-year-old father from southwest suburban Lyons with no criminal record, and Julio Corona, from Liberty, Missouri, are still detained.
“Most of the people that were arrested were leaving for work in the morning,” said Mark Fleming, the associate director of NIJC’s Federal Litigation Project. “I ask that every time you hear from this administration about how they’re rounding up gangbangers, terrorists, you need to take a dose of reality and realize that you need to dig deeper to understand who exactly they are.”
According to the plaintiffs’ legal team, ICE agents made warrantless arrests, often using violence and intimidation in the Chicago area and across the Midwest, including on Julio Noriega, a U.S. citizen who ICE officers detained for more than 10 hours in late January and then released without documenting the arrest.
According to the court filing, ICE carried out practices that violated a 2022 federal court settlement that aimed to protect immigrant rights and curb aggressive enforcement tactics in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Wisconsin.
The motion calls for the release of Orozco, a father who has remained detained despite the alleged settlement violations. Along with Orozco, nine others were arrested under similar circumstances — often with no warrants and little to no probable cause, according to the attorneys representing the plaintiffs.
They also highlight a single incident in Liberty, Missouri, in which 12 people were arrested at a restaurant without proper documentation.
A spokesperson for ICE said the agency “does not provide comments on litigation proceedings or outcomes.”
The court filing demands the immediate return of bonds and the lifting of any conditions of release that have been placed on the 19 people who have been released. In addition, the group is asking for training and remedial measures against ICE agents who the plaintiffs argue violated the settlement.
NIJC and the ACLU of Illinois are also seeking a report from the court detailing all immigration arrests made since Jan. 20 and weekly updates moving forward to monitor ICE’s practices in the Chicago area.
Orozco’s wife, Yolanda Orozco, stood behind a crowd. She repeatedly said her husband is not a criminal and called for his release. Yolanda Orozco, a mother, is battling breast cancer and is behind on mortgage payments, she said.
“Is it a crime to wake up early and go to work every day?” Yolanda Orozco asked.
On Jan. 26, Orozco was on his way home from buying tamales for the family when ICE agents encountered him in his truck. According to the complaint, ICE was looking for one of his sons who is in his 20s and has the same name. Upon seeing Orozco’s driver’s license, the officer reached inside Orozco’s car and unlocked and opened the door. He then grabbed Orozco’s arm and told him he was under arrest, according to the complaint.
Another one of their sons, Eduardo Orozco, captured his father’s arrest on a video that went viral. In the video, he followed the agents around his yard and demanded a warrant for his father’s arrest. Instead, they drove away.
“He just goes to work and comes back to his family. He is loving, he is caring, he is responsible, and he should not have been arrested,” Eduardo Orozco said. “I just want to ask the government to please look into who he is so they can do what’s right.”
Orozco has been in the country for over 27 years, mostly dedicated to his family and his business, according to his son. Like most of the 22 people represented, Orozco has no criminal record, Fleming said. Some have traffic violations and one has a DUI, but no one has other convictions, he added.
According to the 2022 settlement, ICE is not allowed to make a warrantless arrest unless it has probable cause both to believe that immigrant is unlawfully in the United States and to believe the immigrant is likely to flee before a warrant can be obtained.
The settlement also says that to pull over a vehicle, ICE officers must have a reasonable suspicion that a person in the vehicle is unlawfully present, and they must not pretend to enforce traffic laws.
If a person is arrested in violation of the settlement agreement, they must in most circumstances be released from detention without having to pay bond and without conditions of release, according to Rebecca Glenberg, chief supervising litigation counsel at the ACLU of Illinois.
Orozco remains detained in Clay County, Indiana.
The ongoing legal battle over ICE practices comes as immigrant communities brace for more uncertainty under the Trump administration. Community organizers and legal advocates expressed their outrage at ICE’s alleged disregard for legal processes and constitutional protections.
Xanat Sobrevilla, an organizer with Organized Communities Against Deportations, urged the community to stay alert and report any arrests.
“It’s clear that ICE policies have little effect in preventing harm in our communities. We cannot trust internal ICE procedures to uphold people’s rights,” Sobrevilla said.
Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said, “Whenever this administration violates these basic rights, we must call them to account.”
As the court case unfolds, immigrant communities and their allies said they are determined to fight for justice, holding the Trump administration accountable for what they describe as unlawful and inhumane enforcement actions.
“Based on the dozens of cases we’ve reviewed, most of these individuals are hard-working people who have built lives in the U.S. and contribute to their communities. They’re not threats to public safety,” Fleming said.
