What Crazy Fact about the Rate of Trump's Unlawful Detentions did I just Learn from CourtListener, Thanks to Dan Kowalski and the Rest of the Fabulous Attorneys and Judges Defending the Rule of Law?

Habeas Challenges Increase by 4,119%    

To date under Trump II, about 23,000 habeas motions were filed on behalf of people in ICE Custody (1/21/2025 - 3/20/2026)

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Under Biden, for the Exact Same Period, 535 Habeas Motions were filed on behalf of people in ICE custody

   

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Prompted by Dan Kowalski's listserve blast with the subject heading: "81-year-old Judge Leonie Helen Milhomme Brinkema is NOT HAVING IT!" I read the court order, and some others on recent habeas relief.  As I was musing as to the number of habeas cases brought under Trump, compared to Biden, I realized the answer was readily available via the awesome CourtListener interface (every lawyer reading this needs to add "RECAP" to your browser).   

 

 

 

Federal District Court Swats Down Customs and Border Protection Excuse to Delay FOIA Briefing

The Underwood Files 

 

Insurance Executive Lauren Underwood (aka "the George Santos of Illinois") 
Campaigning for Congress (2018)

Sharing minute order of Northern District of Illinois Judge Matthew Kennelly, denying motion by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Hartzler to delay Customs and Border Protection briefing: 

...As plaintiff points out in her response, the claimed lapse in appropriations, if there is one that actually impacts this matter, has existed since mid-February and should have been brought to the Court's attention earlier. Even if that were not the case, there is no appropriate basis in a case already more than five years old for further delays. The Court made this abundantly clear to the parties in its 2/19/2026 order (dkt. 208). CBP has two choices at this point: file a motion for summary judgment, by the 3/20/2026 deadline, based on what it is able to muster by that date, or forego doing so, and await plaintiff's anticipated motion for summary judgment, which is due on 4/3/2026, and respond to that motion. The Court also notes that if plainiff does not file a motion for summary judgment, or files one that is denied, CBP will have the ability to move for judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50(a) during the upcoming bench trial. (mk)
1:22-cv-05072 , Dkt 211

Here is the motion opposing CBP, filed by my attorney, Rima Kapitan.  
Thanks to attorneys Andrew Free and Dan Melo for their insights and to Nicolette Glazer for representing me in the litigation for Health and Human Services records in this case. 

(More on fake nurse Lauren Underwood here.)   

ICE Releases Hundreds of its Detention Subfield Office Addresses and Phone Numbers, Following Court Order

 ICE, We Know Where to Find You! 
Release from Deportation Research Clinic, Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, Northwestern University

 Chicago Sample List from 1,250 Rows of ICE Subfield Offices Nationwide  
For entire spreadsheet, click here

 

Chicago Sample List of ICE Addresses and Phone Numbers 

click to enlarge, or download spreadsheet

Backstory
In 2009, I encountered an ICE report indicating that ICE had 186 "subfield offices," meaning locations with holding cells designed for 24 hours or less.  I filed a request of ICE requesting a list of their locations.  
 

When I received the list, I was stunned to learn that one of the locations was in the Chelsea Market, a couple blocks from my apartment.  The Chelsea Market is a tourist scene, not to mention home to the Food Network and other glam enterprises.  You can read about my conversation with the guy running the U.S. Marshal operation and coordinating on the third floor with ICE's Fugitive Operations in The Nation, "America's Secret ICE Castles."  The guy in charge  did not appreciate my pointing out that he was using Rachel Ray as a human shield and asked me not to reveal their operations, a request I turned down.  Here's a link to the list and story from 2009.  

About ten years later, I was looking at a release of similar list posted on the National Immigrant Justice Center.  Except it was too short and no addresses or phone numbers were included.

ICE's response to my request for the data for the missing fields was an unreadable PDF.  After years of litigation, and a court order from Illinois Northern District Court Judge Mary Rowland, ICE coughed up this list.  The contact information and specification of responsibilities should be helpful to those trying to assist folks ICE is arresting.

 

Many thanks to my FOIA attorney Nicolette Glazer.  The Deportation Research Clinic operates on a miniscule budget and the work of intrepid undergraduate research assistants, who draft our complaints and analyze productions.  Thanks to Gabriel Sanchez, Class of 2026, who worked on this litigation and many other cases.  
Please consider  supporting our work.      

 

Update, March 13, 2026 - The spreadsheet does not include the 88 Tenth Ave., NYC (Chelsea Market) location where ICE previously operated.  Turns out that the U.S. Marshals et al. relocated a few years ago to Brooklyn.  The new address and phone numbers are listed in the recently released spreadsheet as "NYC ECP" (Enforcement Criminal Prosecutions).