Minnesota’s chief federal judge has summoned the acting director of US ICE, Todd Lyons, to appear in court Friday to explain why the agency has repeatedly failed to comply with multiple court orders.
Minnesota’s chief federal judge has ordered the acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Todd Lyons, to appear in court Friday to personally explain the agency’s repeated failures to comply with dozens of court orders.
In a filing late Monday, Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz said Lyons must justify why he should not be held in contempt after ICE missed a deadline to provide a detainee with a bond hearing. “The court’s patience is at an end,” Schiltz wrote in his three-page order.
Operation Metro Surge under scrutiny
The order comes amid mounting frustration over “Operation Metro Surge,” the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign in Minneapolis-St Paul. The operation, which deployed thousands of federal agents, has triggered multiple emergency lawsuits from immigrants challenging unlawful arrests and detentions, with judges frequently ruling in their favour.
Schiltz, appointed by President George W Bush, accused the administration of deliberately ignoring judicial directives. He cited the case of a man ordered released on January 15 who remained in custody days later, highlighting the “significant hardship” imposed on immigrants, many of whom have lived and worked legally in the US Some detainees were transferred to Texas or released far from home without means to return.
Other Minnesota federal judges have voiced similar concerns. US District Judge Michael Davis, a Clinton appointee, accused the administration of attempting to “defy court orders” and “deny noncitizens their due process rights.” Several judges are now weighing broader legal challenges that could significantly restrict federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota or halt Operation Metro Surge altogether.
Fatal incidents intensify scrutiny
The campaign has come under further scrutiny following the fatal shootings of two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by ICE agents in separate enforcement actions in Minneapolis earlier this month. Another federal judge is reviewing whether the deployment of 3,000 immigration officers constitutes an unconstitutional occupation, while Judge Kate Menendez has asked the government to respond to claims that the operation is targeting the state for its sanctuary policies.
Clashes with federal prosecutors
Schiltz previously clashed with the Justice Department when federal prosecutors sought his help to arrest former CNN anchor Don Lemon and others linked to an anti-ICE church protest. After he declined to overturn a magistrate’s denial of arrest warrants, the Justice Department appealed to the Eighth Circuit, which rejected the request. Schiltz criticised the department’s approach, citing a surge of what he described as “illegal” detention cases overwhelming Minnesota courts.
“This court has been extremely patient with respondents, even though they sent thousands of agents to Minnesota without provisions to handle the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were inevitable,” Schiltz wrote. “The court’s patience is at an end.”
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Schiltz said the Friday hearing would be cancelled if the detainee in question is released before then.
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