Minnesota chief judge rebukes ICE, demands explanation then withdraws order

Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota has sharply criticized the Trump administration’s immigration tactics and, in an order this month, demanded that Todd Lyons, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, appear in his courtroom to explain why many people arrested by immigration agents were held without an opportunity to challenge their detentions; he later withdrew the demand after one migrant central to the dispute was released, as he had ordered.

In the order, Judge Schiltz attached what he said was a list of 96 court orders that ICE had violated across 74 cases and wrote, “This list should give pause to anyone — no matter his or her political beliefs — who cares about the rule of law,” adding that ICE had most likely violated more court orders in January alone than “some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.” Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security Department spokeswoman, dismissed his concerns as a “diatribe from this activist judge” and said, “We will not be deterred by activists either in the streets or on the bench.” Judge Schiltz, 65, a George W.

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