Chicago Judge Sets Stage for Hundreds of Immigrants’ Release

Hundreds of people detained in the Trump administration’s Chicago-area immigration crackdown could soon be released on ankle monitors or other “alternatives to detention,” a federal judge said Wednesday.

Judge Jeffrey Cummings of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said it was “highly unlikely” that the detainees in question “are criminal gang members, drug traffickers, or assorted ne’er-do-wells that fall under the category of what ICE has called the worst of the worst.”

It isn’t clear exactly how many people will be released under Cummings’ decision. The order potentially applies to some 615 people arrested by immigration ...