A Chicago father who was swept up in last fall’s federal Operation Midway Blitz is back home after months in exile, a high-stakes court battle, and a tense return flight in federal custody.
Victor, the name he gave reporters to avoid possible government reprisal, says he has lived in Chicago for more than 20 years, owns a home here, and is the father of three children who are all U.S. citizens. He says federal agents pulled him over on the morning of Sept. 16, 2025, took him to the Broadview ICE processing center, held him for six days, and then put him on a plane that removed him from the country on Sept. 22, 2025.
After months in Honduras, his legal team filed a writ of mandamus that asked a federal judge to order officials to correct what they argued was a wrongful removal. Victor boarded an ICE flight back to the United States on March 11, 2026, and was detained in Louisiana when he landed. He was released the next day and reunited with his children in Chicago, according to ABC7 Chicago. The station’s I-Team also found that more than 200 mandamus petitions have been filed in the Northern District of Illinois since Jan. 20, 2025, a sign of mounting litigation tied to the enforcement campaign.
Lawyers Turn to a Rare Remedy
A writ of mandamus is a narrow, “extraordinary” court order that asks judges to compel federal officials to perform duties they have failed to carry out, according to Cornell LII. It is the kind of legal move usually reserved for when everything else has failed…