ICE Blasted by Minneapolis Judge for Violating 96 Orders (2)

A federal judge in Minnesota sharply criticized US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for violating court orders almost 100 times in 74 cases brought by immigrants so far this year, while saying the actual number is “almost certainly” far higher.

“ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence,” Chief US District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, said in a court order Wednesday in Minneapolis.

The judge issued the finding in one of dozens of lawsuits filed by individuals seeking to be released from detention amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants in Minnesota. Operation Metro Surge, as its known, has led to thousands of arrests and protests across the nation following the shooting deaths of two US citizens by federal agents.

ICE agents leave a residence in Minneapolis on Jan. 28.

Photographer: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

In a statement, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the government “will continue to enforce the laws of the United States within all applicable constitutional guidelines.”

“We will not be deterred by activists either in the streets or on the bench,” McLaughlin said.

The judge’s criticism comes just as the Trump administration faces a separate challenge by Minnesota’s attorney general, who seeks to bring Operation Metro Surge to an end, as well as a separate suit by protesters seeking to restrict ICE’s aggressive crowd-control tactics. In both cases, federal immigration officials have been accused of widespread violations of Constitutional protections.

Read More: ICE Set to Dial Back Minnesota Presence After Maine Pullback

Schiltz said ICE failed to meet a court-ordered deadline earlier this month in a case brought by an immigrant identified only as Juan T.R. The judge had ordered ICE to either hold a bond hearing for the man or release him.

When ICE missed the deadline, Schiltz scheduled a contempt-of-court hearing for Friday and ordered ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons to testify. The judge said ICE’s violations of court orders had caused “significant hardship” to numerous detained aliens, “many of whom have lawfully lived and worked in the United States for years and done absolutely nothing wrong.”

“This court has been extremely patient with respondents, even though respondents decided to send 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,” Schiltz said in a Jan. 26 order for Lyons to testify.

Only then did ICE release Juan T.R., the judge said in Wednesday’s order, resulting in the contempt hearing being called off.

In her statement, McLaughlin questioned why the order for Lyons to appear had been dropped by the judge if the Department of Homeland Security’s behavior “was so vile.”

“Despite the diatribe from this activist judge, the only order involved with this case issued yesterday was that Acting Director Lyons was no longer ordered to appear to testify in court,” McLaughlin said.

Schiltz blasted ICE’s overall conduct in the case and many other lawsuits, saying its failure to meet court orders “should give pause to anyone — no matter his or her political beliefs — who cares about the rule of law.”

“ICE has every right to challenge the orders of this court, but, like any litigant, ICE must follow those orders unless and until they are overturned or vacated,” the judge said.

Other litigation

Schiltz’s order came as one of his colleagues on the Minnesota federal bench, US District Judge Katherine Menendez, weighs the state’s request to at least temporarily halt Operation Metro Surge and remove agents from the streets. Menendez heard arguments earlier in the week and hasn’t said when she intends to rule.

On Wednesday evening, the Justice Department filed a written brief with Menendez denying allegations that the operation was designed to unlawfully coerce Democratic state and local officials to cooperate with the administration on immigration enforcement.

The administration denied the state’s claim that a Jan. 24 letter from Attorney General Pam Bondi to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz asking the state to repeal so-called “sanctuary” policies and turn over records on public benefits programs and voter registrations was an attempt at extracting a “quid pro quo” deal amid the state’s effort to end the federal surge.

The US also also urged the judge to not give weight to a Jan. 13 social media post by Trump in which he wrote, “FEAR NOT, GREAT PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA, THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!” The department wrote that “such a singular statement is of little relevance” and that the “unclear reference” to the word “retribution” didn’t justify ending the operation.

The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment about the filing.

On Thursday, a coalition of 22 Democratic state attorneys general sent a letter to Bondi protesting her message to Walz. They wrote that the federal government’s immigration enforcement power “cannot extend to commandeering state governments, coercing the repeal of lawful, duly enacted state policies, or demanding broad access to sensitive records based on unsupported assertions.”

(Updates with Department of Homeland Security comment.)

To contact the reporters on this story:
Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net;
Zoe Tillman in Washington at ztillman2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.net

Peter Blumberg, Elizabeth Wasserman

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