The chief judge of the United States District Court in Minneapolis, Patrick J. Schiltz, canceled the hearing scheduled for Friday where he had ordered the acting ICE director, Todd Lyons, to appear to explain the agency's failure to comply with nearly 100 court orders in the harsh anti-immigration campaign ordered by President Donald Trump in Minnesota. On Monday, the judge had warned that "the court's patience has run out" and warned of consequences, after having "tried less drastic measures without success." However, two days later, he gave the Executive a break after ICE reluctantly and with significant delay complied with a specific order to release Tobay Robles, an Ecuadorian man who arrived in the U.S. 30 years ago as a minor and had been irregularly detained. Although this was done in Texas, 1,500 kilometers away from his home.
Schiltz, a conservative appointed by George W. Bush and a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, has warned federal authorities that he will not hesitate to charge them with contempt if they continue to ignore court decisions. In the last hearing, he described in detail numerous situations where detainees, many of whom "had done nothing wrong," were held longer than necessary, arbitrarily transferred to detention centers in other parts of the country, "or released hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away from their homes without arrangements for their return." That's why he had initially ordered Lyons to appear "to explain why he should not be held in contempt."
The numbers are staggering: at least 96 court orders violated in 74 cases since January 1, although the Court suspects there are many more, as the data was "hastily compiled by judges with an extraordinary workload," he explains. "ICE is not above the law. ICE has every right to challenge this court's orders, but, like any litigant, must comply with those orders unless they are reversed or annulled," said Schiltz in a statement lamenting that ICE has violated more court directives in a single month than "some federal agencies in their entire existence." "This list should make anyone—regardless of their political beliefs—who cares about the rule of law reflect," reads the resolution, a document of a few pages.
The White House's response, through its lawyers, has been to defend everything done, relying on its ultimate goals and ensuring that the Minnesota Attorney General's request to block the increase in ICE operations or to control its tactics is absurd. State authorities accuse federal officials of racially profiling citizens, "conducting illegal detentions and arrests, and sowing fear in communities."
Also on Monday, the state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul asked another federal judge to halt Operation Metro Surge in a lengthy hearing. Judge Katherine Menendez, appointed by former President Joe Biden, has not yet issued a ruling. She was skeptical of the ambitious scope of the request but also critical of the Executive's arguments in the public hearing.