In Chicago’s immigration dragnet this fall, a stark figure stands out: of 614 people listed on a Justice Department roster tied to Operation Midway Blitz, only 16 had criminal histories — meaning roughly 97% had none, according to WUSF.
As the sweep intensified, the courts stepped in. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ordered the release of more than 300 detainees and identified roughly 615 people in custody, with about 442 deemed eligible for release by bond or alternatives to detention by week’s end, as reported by Politico.
A sweep’s numbers
The government’s own records complicate a central claim about the operation. The Justice Department list reviewed by advocates and cited in court filings showed that only 16 of 614 people had criminal histories, while none had been convicted of rape or murder, according to WUSF. In the same reporting, Michelle Garcia put it bluntly: “You look at this list and it is very clear they just did a broad sweep of anybody and not a targeted sweep of people who were here unlawfully and that they knew were likely to flee or were criminals as they lead you to believe,” said Michelle Garcia, deputy legal director of the ACLU of Illinois, according to WUSF.
Those findings diverge from the public narrative. Homeland Security officials have described Operation Midway Blitz as targeting “the worst of the worst” — murderers, rapists, kidnappers and other violent offenders — and have suggested that a majority of arrests were targeted based on prior crimes or deportation orders. But contemporaneous government records show a much lower share of such cases, highlighting a mismatch between rhetoric and results, according to AP News.
Courts push back
Legal scrutiny has quickly reshaped the operation. Judge Cummings cited procedural problems with the arrests and referenced a 2022 consent decree that limits warrantless immigration enforcement, ordering the release of more than 300 detainees and directing a review of hundreds more, as reported by Politico. In court filings described by Politico, the judge identified roughly 615 people in custody and said that about 442 were eligible for release by bond or alternatives to detention. The orders amounted to an extraordinary rebuke of how the sweep unfolded — and set up a continuing test of how far federal agents can go on Chicago streets.
On the ground in neighborhoods
Beyond courtroom directives, the human costs are mounting. Families in immigrant neighborhoods report a daily churn of fear and absence: children reluctant to attend school, street vendors who have disappeared, and public spaces that have grown noticeably quieter as residents avoid routine errands or gatherings, reporting from The Washington Post shows.
Community advocates describe households upended by early-morning knocks and sudden detentions. The Washington Post recounts parents scrambling for child care, lost wages, and neighbors who no longer answer unfamiliar knocks. In that atmosphere, even lawful residents and U.S. citizens in mixed-status families have pulled back — skipping shifts, postponing medical visits, and rerouting daily routines to avoid the possibility of an encounter.
Public safety claims, public safety trends
Homeland Security has framed the operation as a public safety imperative aimed at dangerous offenders, a message amplified as the arrests rolled out. But Chicago’s trajectory on violent crime had already been bending down. In the first half of 2025, the city’s homicide rate fell 33% compared with the same period in 2024 and was 25% lower than January–June 2019, according to the Council on Criminal Justice. The Council’s analysis notes broader declines in serious violence that mirror national patterns.
That context complicates the assertion that large-scale immigration sweeps were necessary to stem a surge in violent crime — or that they can be credited with recent declines. The government’s own arrest data also undercuts the argument that most targets were violent criminals, according to AP News and WUSF.
What comes next
Operation Midway Blitz has become a tangle of conflicting narratives: a public safety campaign described by federal officials; a set of arrests that, in significant part, ensnared people without criminal records; and a legal challenge that forced hundreds of releases and heightened oversight, as reported by Politico. The on-the-ground reality — families keeping children home, storefronts and sidewalks gone quiet — is reshaping daily life in immigrant neighborhoods, reporting from The Washington Post shows.
The coming weeks will reveal whether court orders meaningfully narrow the sweep’s scope and bring arrest practices in line with the 2022 consent decree, or whether federal officials double down on a strategy at odds with the government’s own data. For Chicago, where serious violence has been falling, the debate now turns on a wider question: how to balance enforcement with trust — and whether the city can keep both intact when the numbers, the courts, and the neighborhoods tell such different stories.
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