A top Minnesota judge blasted ICE for rampant violations of judicial directives during the Trump administration’s violent immigration crackdown in the Midwestern state.
Judge Patrick J. Schiltz said the almost-100 court orders violated by ICE agents since the start of this year represent more than “some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.”
That tally, Schiltz added, was “almost certainly substantially understated” on account of being “hurriedly compiled by extraordinarily busy judges” amid the agency’s ongoing operations in Minnesota.
“ICE is not a law unto itself,” the judge wrote in a Wednesday ruling. “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.”
It comes after the judge, a prominent conservative jurist appointed to the Minnesota district court under President George W Bush, issued a summons earlier this week for acting ICE Director Todd Lyons.
Schiltz acknowledged Monday the summons for Lyons was an “extraordinary” step but insisted he had been left with no option given the rate at which agents have been ignoring judicial directives.
ICE has been present in the Twin Cities since December carrying out its Operation Metro Surge deportation drive.
Those efforts have witnessed mass protests and the killing of two U.S. citizens, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, by federal agents.
The crackdown has further seen local courts inundated with filings from migrants claiming to have been unlawfully detained by ICE.
Schiltz had previously demanded that Lyons appear in person to state why he should not be held in contempt for the number of court orders ICE has violated since the start of January.
The judge issued a temporary stay to that summons on Wednesday but cautioned that “future noncompliance with court orders” would likely see it reinstated.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on this story.
