MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, USA (AP) — Minnesota’s top federal judge says the Trump administration has failed to comply with orders to hold hearings for detained immigrants and has ordered the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appear before him on Friday to explain why he should not be held in contempt.
In an order dated Monday, Judge Patrick J. Schiltz ruled that Todd Lyons, ICE’s interim director, must appear in person before the court. Schiltz criticized the administration for its handling of the bond hearings for the immigrants it has detained.
“This court has been extremely patient with the defendants, even as the defendants decided to send thousands of agents to Minnesota to detain foreigners without making any provision to deal with the hundreds of habeas corpus petitions and other lawsuits that would surely result,” the judge wrote.
The order comes a day after President Donald Trump directed Border Czar Tom Homan to take charge of immigration raids in Minnesota following the second death this month of a person at the hands of a federal agent.
Messages were sent to ICE and to a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security seeking a response.
“The defendants have continually assured the court that they recognize their obligation to comply with court orders, and that they have taken steps to ensure those orders are followed in the future,” Schiltz continued in the order. “Unfortunately, however, violations continue.”
The judge said he recognizes that ordering the in-person appearance of the head of a federal agency is extraordinary, “but the magnitude of ICE’s violations of court orders is equally extraordinary, and lesser measures have been attempted and failed,” wrote Schiltz.
The order names the petitioner by first name and last initial: Juan T.R. It says the court granted a request on January 14 to provide him with a bond hearing within seven days. On January 23, the petitioner’s lawyers told the court that the petitioner remained detained.
The order states that Schiltz will cancel Lyons’s appearance if the petitioner is released.
