Patrick Schiltz, Minnesota Chief Judge, Accuses ICE of Violating Court Orders

In January, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota sharply criticized the Trump administration’s immigration tactics, demanding that Todd Lyons, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, appear in his courtroom to explain why people arrested by federal agents were being held without an opportunity to challenge their detentions.

Judge Schiltz said in an order that “the court’s patience has run out” and attached a list of 96 court orders that he said ICE had violated across 74 cases. He wrote that the list “should give pause to anyone — no matter his or her political beliefs — who cares about the rule of law,” and assessed that ICE had likely violated more court orders in January alone than some federal agencies have in their entire existence.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department, dismissed his concerns as a “diatribe from this activist judge,” adding in an emailed statement, “We will not be deterred by activists either in the streets or on the bench.” Judge Schiltz backed off his demand that Mr.

Lyons appear after one migrant at the heart of the standoff was released, as he had previously ordered. Schiltz, 65, was appointed to the federal bench by President George W. Bush in 2006 and has become an unexpected critic of the administration’s tactics.

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