Attorneys Michelle García of the ACLU of Illinois and Mark Fleming of the National Immigrant Justice Center answer reporter questions on Feb. 27, 2026, at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Maggie Dougherty)
from the cover: ‘ICE’
By: Maggie Dougherty Capitol News Illinois
Article Summary
• A federal judge on Friday ordered the release of 32 people detained by federal immigration agents without warrants or probable cause. Those people must be released by March 5 at noon.
• The arrests came during Operation Midway Blitz last fall in Chicago.
• An appeals court decision prevented the judge from making sweeping rulings and instead had to make individual assessments in each case.
This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 1 p.m. Monday, March 2, to reflect that the judge’s written ruling that was released after this story was initially published ordered the release of four more people.
CHICAGO — A federal judge on Friday ordered the release of dozens of people detained by federal immigration enforcement agents without warrants or probable cause amid ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ last fall.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings individually considered the details of 53 arrests, weighing factors to determine whether federal immigration officers violated a consent decree in making those arrests. He ordered the release of 32 people by noon on March 5; in his following written ruling, Cummings added four more to that list.
Attorneys said that at least 11 of the 32 ordered released by the judge had already departed the country as of Wednesday. They identified another 11 as still detained, and said the rest had been released on conditions that violate the order, such as requirements that they check in and report address changes to immigration officials. Cummings previously ordered all conditions for release such as bond and check-ins be dropped.
The case hinges on the Castañon Nava consent decree, which governs Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol actions in Illinois and five other Midwestern states.
The decree prevents ICE and CBP officers from arresting immigrants without signed warrants unless there is reason to believe the person would escape before a warrant could be obtained for the arrest.
That requires consideration of factors like whether the person has a job, a home, a family or other ties to their community that would prevent them from fleeing, how cooperative they were to immigration agents, and if they have evaded immigration enforcement in the past.
Cummings had previously ordered the release of hundreds arrested for “potential” violations of the consent decree before an appeals court ruled that he could not make a sweeping ruling for those arrested using blank warrants without providing individualized assessments for each situation.
Read more: Appeals court won’t release detained immigrants amid warrantless arrest scrutiny
He made the individual considerations Friday under two categories: The first included people arrested without a warrant of any kind, while the second considered arrests made under a recently adopted Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy allowing agents to carry blank warrants, known as I-200 warrants, to be filled out in the field.
Of those arrested without a warrant, Cummings ordered the release of all but one. He was more limited in his ability to release those arrested with blank I-200 warrants, ordering the release of eight people for whom the government was unable to produce the warrants or for which the warrants had serious concerns as to their authenticity.
Questionable authenticity
(Continued on page 7, see ‘ICE’)
Michael Carbery Named Executive Director of the Catholic Education
CREST HILL, Illinois, March 5, 2026
The Catholic Education Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Carbery, CFA, as Executive Director.
The Catholic Education Foundation supports families in the Diocese of Joliet who seek a Catholic education for their children but are unable to afford the full cost of tuition.
Carbery joins the foundation with extensive leadership experience in finance, banking, fundraising, and education.
He most recently served as Senior Director of Development at DePaul University, where he helped strengthen philanthropic partnerships and advance major institutional initiatives.
His early career includes serving as a founding director of First Community Bank of Homer Glen and Lockport (now Busey Bank) and more than 25 years as a senior financial executive with several Wall Street firms.
Carbery also brings a long record of service to Catholic organizations. He previously chaired the Board of Directors at St. Francis High School in Wheaton and currently serves on the Finance Commission for the Society of Mount Carmel (Religious Order of Carmelites).
A graduate of Joliet Catholic Academy, he has deep roots in the Diocese of Joliet and a longstanding commitment to Catholic education.
“Mike brings the leadership, vision,
and commitment needed to guide the foundation into its next chapter,” said Jeffery Arseneau, Chairman of the Board of Directors. “His experience in finance and philanthropy, combined with his passion for Catholic education, will strengthen our mission of making Catholic schools accessible to more families across the diocese.”
“The gift of Catholic education has shaped my life and formed the values that guide me—living faithfully, giving generously, and leading responsibly,” Carbery said. “I am honored to serve the Catholic Education Foundation in my home diocese and look forward to helping more families make Catholic education part of their children’s life journey.”
Carbery holds a master’s degree
in educational leadership with a concentration in Catholic leadership from DePaul University and a bachelor’s degree in economics with honors from Yale University.
About the Catholic Education Foundation
The Catholic Education Foundation provides tuition assistance to families seeking a Catholic education for their children in schools across the Diocese of Joliet. Through the generosity of donors, the Catholic Education Foundation helps make Catholic education possible for thousands of students each year across the Diocese’s five county school region.
For more information, visit cef.joliet.org
Colon cancer is more than 90% curable when diagnosed early, which is why doctors recommend getting screened if you are over the age of 45 or have high risk factors. Our specialists make it easy with conveniently scheduled colonoscopies.
Plus, if your screening reveals a concern, we are here to provide some of the most effective treatments.
Michael Carbery, CFA, has been named executive director of the Catholic Education Foundation, which provides tuition assistance to families seeking a Catholic education for their children in schools across the Diocese of Joliet.
3 metrics that can help people gauge their financial health
Effective money management can help men and women achieve their shortand long-term goals. Wise investment strategies and a commitment to saving for retirement are great ways to manage money over the long haul, but it’s important to seek ways to do so in the short-term as well.
Monitoring financial health is a shortterm strategy that can keep individuals on a path toward long-term security. While various metrics can be looked to as indicators of financial health, adults can keep these three variables in mind as they look to utilize short-term strategies to ensure their long-term success.
1. Debt-to-income ratio: Debt-to-income ratio can be a good indicator of financial health. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau defines debt-to-income ratio (DTI) as all your monthly debt payments divided by your monthly gross income. Lenders utilize DTI to determine the creditworthiness of loan applicants, but individuals also can use it as a metric to
HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
gauge their financial health. Monthly debt payments include mortgages, auto loans, student loans, and other debt payments, including credit cards. Individuals whose debt payments total $2,000 per month and who earn a gross monthly income of $6,000 have a 33 percent DTI. The credit experts at Experian suggest a DTI of 35 percent or less is indicative that debt is being handled well, so that’s a figure to keep in mind.
2. Savings balances: Savings accounts don’t generate as much interest as they did throughout the 1980s and 1990s. According to Nasdaq, savings interest rates climbed as high as 8 percent in the 1980s, but have fallen below 0.25 percent since the financial crisis of 2008. That’s led some to devalue savings, but savings balances can be a good indicator of financial health. A substantial savings account can help individuals avoid taking on debt when costly emergencies and expenses arise unexpectedly, thus helping them keep their DTI in a financially advantageous range.
3. Credit score: Credit score is another strong, and easily accessible, indicator of personal financial health. Individuals can now access their credit scores for free each month through their banks and credit card providers. Experian notes that credit scores range from 300 to 850, and where a score falls in that range can indicate if a person is managing credit in a healthy
How to eat healthy even if you’re always on the move
A healthy diet pays numerous dividends. Such a diet can help people maintain a healthy weight, reduce their risk for various chronic conditions, including some diseases, and boost energy levels.
The energy-boosting benefits of a nutritious diet might be especially appealing to busy professionals and provide the extra motivation they need to embrace healthy eating. Busy professionals know it’s not always so easy to eat healthy. An on-the-go lifestyle only adds to that difficulty, but the following are some ways to eat healthy if you’re always on the move.
• Plan ahead. Meal planning is an effective way to eat healthy because it reduces the chances that adults will make impulsive dietary decisions without taking nutrition into account. According to Brown University Health, meal planning can save time and money. Planning also helps people avoid dining out too often.
That’s a notable benefit, as many restaurants, particularly fast food chains that tend to be valued for their ability to provide quick and filling meals, prepare meals that are high in fat, sugar and sodium.
• Embrace crockpot cooking. Slow cooking in a crockpot or slow cooker can help
on-the-go professionals eat healthier because it allows them to prepare meals on weekends and then eat them throughout the week.
That’s helpful for busy adults who don’t have time to prepare homemade nutritious meals on weeknights, when work schedules, kids’ extracurricular activities and other obligations tend to take precedence over healthy eating.
• Learn to dine out healthy. It’s important that busy adults do not paint all restaurant offerings with a broad brush.
In fact, many restaurants offer a wide range of nutritious fare. Diners just need to know which options fit that criteria.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, veggie-based entrées or those with baked, broiled or grilled fish or skinless chicken are nutritious options when dining out. Johns Hopkins also urges diners to forgo traditionally greasy or oily options like cheese-covered enchiladas in favor of healthier alternatives like tacos featuring fish or grilled chicken.
• Consider meal kits. The market monitoring and research firm Statista notes that the meal kit delivery market has been growing rapidly in recent years.
Research indicates the domestic market for meal kit delivery services was slightly less than $21 billion in 2022, a figure that forecasters project will rise to around $65 billion by 2030.
Such estimates underscore the growing popularity of the services. Though meal kit services vary, many offer the convenience busy professionals are looking for without compromising nutrition. Pre-portioned ingredients help meal kit subscribers avoid overeating, and most recipes are easily followed and result in meals made in considerably less time than more traditional means of cooking.
Busy professionals might feel as though
or unhealthy way. Experian reports scores 740 and above are very good, while scores between 670 and 739 are considered good.
Scores between 300 and 579 are considered poor, while a score between 580 and 669 is considered fair. Scores below 669 indicate there’s room to use credit more wisely, which involve
reducing reliance on consumer credit, making payments on time and ensuring payments are more than the monthly minimum.
These three metrics and others can be utilized by individuals looking to gauge their financial health in an effort to realize their short- and long-term goals.
Shelters come in different types, and these are some of the more popular.
The following are some ways to eat healthy if you’re always on the move.
ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS
1.1
BID INFORMATION
A. Sealed bids will be received by Fountaindale Public Library District, on April 2, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. prevailing time for the 2026 Interior Lighting Replacement project. Bids will be opened at the Fountaindale Public Library, 300 W. Briarcliff Road, Bolingbrook, IL 60440.
B. A Non-Mandatory Pre-Bid Conference will be held on March 16, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. at Fountaindale Public Library, 300 W. Briarcliff Road, Bolingbrook, IL 60440. All Bidders are encouraged to attend and sign in at the meeting which will also be attended by the Owner, Architect and Engineer.
C. Anticipated Award of Contract date: April 16, 2026
D. Anticipated Start of Construction: July 20, 2026
E. Anticipated Substantial Completion date: February 26, 2027
F. Lump sum bid proposals will be received for this project at the scheduled time of receipt bids and will be publicly opened at that time.
G. Bid security in the form of a bid bond, certified check or cash in an amount equal to 10 percent of the base bid amount shall be submitted with the bid. Should a bid bond be submitted, the bid bond shall be payable to the Owner.
H. Bids shall be submitted on or before the specified closing time in an opaque sealed envelope addressed to: Mr. Paul Mills, Executive Director.
I. The Owner reserves the right to reject any or all bids or parts thereof, or waive any irregularities or informalities, and to make the award in the best interest of the Library District.
J. All bidders must comply with applicable Illinois Law requiring the payment of prevailing wages by all Contractors working on public works. Bidder must comply with the Illinois Statutory requirements regarding labor, including Equal Employment Opportunity Laws.
K. Bidding documents are on file and may be obtained upon receipt of deposit in the amount of $50 for 1 set of the bidding documents consisting of 2 sets of plans, 2 Project Manuals, 1 Compact Disc containing PDF files of drawings and project manual, and 1 set of bid forms from: Gill Reprographics, Inc. (GRI), 17W715 Butterfield Road, Suite B, Oak Brook Terrace, IL 60181, (630) 652-0800, www.gillrepro.com If only digital files of bidding documents are requested, a one time non-refundable fee of $15.00 (payable to Gill Reprographics, Inc.) can be paid. Log in information to download digital files will be provided by
L. The Architect for the above referenced project is TRIA Architecture, Inc., (630) 455-4500.
Board of Trustees
Fountaindale Public Library District
300 W. Briarcliff Road Bolingbrook, IL 60440
Published March 12, 2026
In some cases, the I-200 warrants were missing key information about the person arrested, including names and “Alien Registration Numbers,” unique identifiers assigned by the Department of Homeland Security to track noncitizens.
In other cases, the information on I-200 warrants used boilerplate language that contradicted narrative summaries in the other arrest records or was found to be factually incorrect based on outside evidence. In one case, Cummings said the issues with the I-200 were so severe that they were “not simply defects” but indeed “raise questions about the authenticity of the document.”
For example, in one case, the government claimed a 61-year-old man attempted to run away from agents to evade arrest.
According to Cummings, the man’s daughter provided testimony that her father has trouble walking, much less running, due to his age and deep pain in his leg. Video footage reviewed by Cummings apparently showed the man walked compliantly with officers, “and walked very slowly,” according to Cummings. Cummings said he would “credit the video I saw with my eyes” over the narrative in the report, since DHS did not produce alternate evidence to contradict the video.
Other I-200s were produced much later than other arresting documentation, de-
spite the government’s acknowledgement at an earlier hearing that those records should be stored together, though Cummings said this could be attributed to the volume of arrests that occurred last fall. Cummings did not order the release of one person who was arrested without a warrant because the arresting documents indicated that he put his vehicle in reverse to try to escape agents.
Mark Fleming, a National Immigrant Justice Center attorney representing the plaintiffs in the case, asked the judge to order the government to produce the body camera footage that it has from the arrest to prove the narrative was true.
In 10 other cases previously under dis-
STATE OF WISCONSIN CIRCUIT COURT IRON COUNTY
GITSIT Solutions, LLC, not in its individual capacity but solely in its capacity as Separate Trustee of GV Trust 2025-1
333 S. Anita Drive, Suite 400 Orange, CA 92868
Plaintiff, vs.
The Estate of Gloria F. Hudek, Deceased
2560 W North Mercer Lake Circle Mercer, WI 54547
Jason C. Hudek
2013 Poyntz Ave Apt 1411 Charlotte, NC 28215-5806
Christopher M. Hudek
24823 W Gates Ct Plainfield, IL 60585-2232
Jane Doe Hudek
2013 Poyntz Ave Apt 1411 Charlotte, NC 28215-5806
Jane Moe Dudek
24823 W Gates Ct Plainfield, IL 60585-2232
Defendants.
THE STATE OF WISCONSIN
To each person named above as a defendant:
PUBLICATION SUMMONS
Case No. 26-CV-000001
The Honorable Anthony J. Stella Jr. Case Code 30404 (Foreclosure of Mortgage)
The amount claimed exceeds $10,000.00
You are hereby notified that the plaintiff named above has filed a lawsuit or other legal action against you.
Within 40 days after February 20, 2026 you must respond with a written demand for a copy of the complaint. The demand must be sent or delivered to the court, whose address is 300 Taconite Street #207, Hurley, WI 54534-1546 and to Gray & Associates, L.L.P., plaintiff’s attorney, whose address is 16345 West Glendale Drive, New Berlin, WI 53151-2841. You may have an attorney help or represent you.
If you do not demand a copy of the complaint within 40 days, the court may grant judgment against you for the award of money or other legal action requested in the complaint, and you may lose your right to object to anything that is or may be incorrect in the complaint. A judgment may be enforced as provided by law. A judgment awarding money may become a lien against any real estate you own now or in the future, and may also be enforced by garnishment or seizure of property.
Dated this 9th day of February, 2026.
Gray & Associates, L.L.P.
Attorneys
for Plaintiff
By: ______________________________
Robert M. Piette
State Bar No. 1018058
Case No. 26-CV-000001
16345 West Glendale Drive New Berlin, WI 53151-2841 (414) 224-1987
Gray & Associates, L.L.P. is attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. If you have previously received a discharge in a chapter 7 bankruptcy case, this communication should not be construed as an attempt to hold you personally liable for the debt.
Published 2/26/26, 3/5/26 & 3/12/26
pute, Fleming said DHS had acknowledged they were violations of the consent decree and conceded to releasing those people after the plaintiffs asked to see the body camera footage.
“And so that is why I asked for the body cam for the one individual that they alleged attempted to flee in his vehicle because, frankly, they can’t be trusted,” Fleming told reporters after the hearing. “What they wrote is not trustworthy.”
Cummings asked the DHS attorneys to provide that footage. If it supported the narratives in the arrest records, his order against the release will stand. In his written ruling, he asked DHS to produce body camera footage for his consideration in another case.
National enforcement
In his Feb. 17 ruling, Cummings ordered DHS to recirculate the consent decree policy to all ICE agents nationwide by email, and to advise that it will remain in effect as the dominant ICE policy governing warrantless arrests so long as the consent decree remains in effect.
DHS was supposed to circulate the policy by the following day and submit a certification that it had done so by the end of the week.
The agency certified it had recirculated the policy, but told agents it only applies to the Chicago regional office and directed all other ICE offices to adhere to the policy written by ICE Director Todd Lyons, which reduces the information required to make a warrantless arrest.
Read more: Judge rules four people ar-
(Continued from page 5, ‘HEALTH’)
they need to eat whatever is convenient and immediately accessible, even if the available options lack nutritional value.
rested by ICE without warrants should be released Cummings had explicitly specified in an earlier hearing that the warrantless arrest policy applies nationwide, not only to the states within ICE’s Chicago regional office.
“Is it your practice to violate orders of a federal court?” Cummings asked the attorneys representing DHS. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice that you put this language in here? Did you think I wouldn’t care?” Lead government attorney James Walker apologized to the judge for what he called a misunderstanding regarding the scope of the policy. Walker said the government had presented the language openly and would not attempt to mislead the court.
Cummings, who had ordered the government to recirculate the policy nationwide in compliance with the decree, granted the government a delay in recirculating the policy while the parties clarified the misunderstanding. He asked the plaintiffs’ counsel to prepare a reply to the government’s motion by March 3 and for defendants to file a reply by March 6.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
This article first appeared on Capitol News Illinois and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
