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The chief federal judge in Minnesota says Trump administration has failed to comply with orders to hold hearings for detained immigrants and ordered the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to appear before him Friday to explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt.
In an order dated Monday, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz said Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, must appear personally in court. Schiltz took the administration to task over its handling of bond hearings for immigrants it has detained.
Schiltz wrote that he recognizes ordering the head of a federal agency to appear personally is extraordinary.
“Respondents have continually assured the Court that they recognize their obligation to comply with Court orders, and that they have taken steps to ensure that those orders will be honoured going forward,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, though, the violations continue.”
Schlitz said the administration sent “thousands of agents to Minnesota to detain aliens without making any provision for dealing with the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were sure to result.”
Messages were sent Tuesday to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security spokesperson seeking a response.
Protesters jeer outgoing border patrol official
The order comes a day after President Donald Trump ordered border czar Tom Homan to take over his administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, following the second death this month of person at the hands of an immigration law enforcement officer.
Trump on Monday touted productive conversations with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
The mayor said he asked Trump in a phone call to end the immigration enforcement surge, and Trump agreed the present situation cannot continue. Frey said he would keep pushing for others involved in Operation Metro Surge to go.
Frey said he planned to meet Homan on Tuesday.
U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino drew condemnation for claiming Alex Pretti, the man who was killed, had been planning to “massacre” law enforcement officers, a characterization that authorities had not substantiated. Bovino could leave Minneapolis as soon as Tuesday, according to reports.
Saturday’s fatal shooting of Pretti, an ICU nurse, by Border Patrol agents ignited political backlash and raised fresh questions about how the operation was being run.
Users say ICE tracking apps and websites are helping keep the community safe, but the Trump administration says they’re putting federal agents at risk. For The National, CBC’s Ashley Fraser breaks down how they work and why developers say they have a right to make them.
Bovino’s leadership of highly visible federal crackdowns, including operations that sparked mass demonstrations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and Minneapolis, has drawn fierce criticism from local officials, civil rights advocates and congressional Democrats.
News of Bovino’s departure didn’t stop dozens of protesters from gathering outside a hotel where they believed Bovino was staying. They blew whistles, banged pots and one person blasted a trombone. Police watched and kept them away from the hotel entrance.
Walz, in a statement, said the call with the president was “productive” and that impartial investigations into the shootings were needed. Trump said his administration was looking for “any and all” criminals the state has in their custody. Walz said the state Department of Corrections honours federal requests for people in its custody.
As tensions surged between the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Pretti earlier this month, Trump’s Justice Department had announced it was investigating Walz and Frey, accusing the two leaders of impeding federal immigration efforts.
Meanwhile, a federal judge on Monday heard arguments in a lawsuit aimed at halting the federal immigration enforcement surge in the state.
Judge hears challenge to immigration operation
The lawsuit asks the judge to order a reduction in the number of federal law enforcement officers and agents in Minnesota back to the level before the surge started on Dec. 1, and to limit the scope of the enforcement operation.
In court on Monday, an attorney for the administration said about 2,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were on the ground, along with at least 1,000 Border Patrol officers.
The case has implications for other states that have been or could become targets of ramped-up federal immigration enforcement operations. Attorneys general from 19 states plus the District of Columbia, led by California, filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Minnesota
The judge said she understood the urgency of the matter and will make a ruling as soon as possible.