Federal judge hits ICE hard with 'knives out' approach to Trump admin's delays: analysis

A federal judge has opted to take the government to task on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent activity and the backlog of related court cases.

Former US attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, Joyce Vance, has broken down how some federal judges are losing their patience with Donald Trump's administration and the lack of cooperation in the courtroom. Judge Patrick J. Schiltz is seemingly leading the charge against the government officials responsible for the slow process of getting through at least 50 cases involving ICE agents and a violation of the January 28 order.

A temporary restraining order had been issued on January 28 to suspend ICE agents from arresting and detaining lawfully resettled refugees in Minnesota. In documents seen by Vance, it would appear that Daniel N. Rosen, the US attorney for the District of Minnesota, has been taken to task over the Trump administration's ongoing dismissal of the restraining order.

Vance wrote in her Substack, "Judge Schiltz asked the other judges in his district to review their cases. He had his own law clerks check the accuracy of all of the information.

"He explained there had been a few errors, 'But the bottom line is that ICE violated 97 orders in 66 of the cases referred to in the January 28 order. The January 28 order had identified "96 court orders that ICE has violated in 74 cases." … Obviously, the January 28 order was not 'beyond the pale of accuracy,' as claimed by Rosen."

"Rosen claimed that 'The truth is that efforts we have already been undertaking for weeks have led to considerable improvement—efforts which have apparently gone unrecognized by some on the bench.' Judge Schiltz punched back: 'This, too, appears to be untrue. Attached as Appendix B is a list of additional cases in which ICE has violated court orders, most of which violations occurred after entry of the January 28 order.'

'Despite Rosen’s assurance of ‘redouble[d]’ efforts that have ‘led to considerable improvement,’ Appendix B documents 113 additional orders that ICE has violated in 77 additional cases—again, above and beyond the 97 orders that ICE violated in the 66 cases identified in Appendix A.'”

Vance went on to suggest the pressure Judge Schiltz had put on ICE is an example of Minneapolis officials' fury over the ongoing ICE presence in the city.

"There will be more in this case this week," she wrote. "It’s fair to say that this is a Judge with knives out. The bench in Minneapolis is not amused.

"The Trump administration may have eviscerated the career prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, but they can’t do the same thing to the court. And the judges seem determined to pursue justice, not the president’s political agenda.

"The government can’t seem to win. And that should tell you all you need to know. It’s not difficult for the government to win these cases—when they are doing it right. Here, they are doing it wrong. And federal judges are increasingly unwilling to give them additional time or courtesy."