CHICAGO (AP) — A federal appeals court blocked the immediate release of hundreds of migrants detained during a Chicago-area raid in a split decision Thursday, which also allowed the extension of a consent decree outlining how federal immigration agents can make warrantless arrests.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit last week heard arguments on the 2022 agreement that regulates how the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can arrest migrants in addition to those who are the specific target of an operation. The consent decree has been in the spotlight amid the Trump administration's campaign of immigration raids in Chicago, in which more than 4,000 arrests were made.

Last month, US District Judge Jeffrey Cummings, who found that the government had violated the agreement, ordered the release of more than 600 migrants on bail, a measure that was stayed by the appeals court. Around 450 people remain in custody, according to lawyers.

In the decision – with two votes in favor and one against – the appeals court said that Cummings exceeded his authority by ordering the release of the detainees without evaluating each case individually. The consent decree “carefully maps out what the district judge can and cannot order” to balance law enforcement and public safety, according to the ruling. But the document also indicated that the Trump administration wrongly categorized all those arrested as subject to mandatory detention.

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Attorneys for the plaintiffs said they were discouraged by the decision, but glad that the court upheld the extension of the agreement, which among other things requires ICE to show documentation for every arrest it makes. Federal judges elsewhere, including Colorado, have also ruled in favor of limiting warrantless arrests.

Lawyers pushed for a quick resolution of the case, arguing that many are being deported without knowing their options. The hundreds of detainees, mostly from the Chicago area, were arrested between the summer and the first weeks of the “Operation Midway Blitz” immigration campaign in the fall. The lawyers pointed out that they collected information on hundreds of other people who they believe were also detained inappropriately.

“We will work tirelessly to ensure that those who were illegally arrested can return to their families and communities as soon as possible,” said Keren Zwick of the National Immigrant Justice Center.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond Thursday to a message seeking comment.

The consent decree, which expired earlier this year, was extended until February. The federal government attempted to challenge its expansion in court.

The agreement was originally reached between immigrant rights groups and the federal government following a lawsuit over immigration raids in 2018. It applies to migrants arrested in six states — Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Wisconsin — that depend on the ICE field office in Chicago.

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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.