Jan. 27 (UPI) — Minnesota’s chief federal judge has summoned the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appear in a Minneapolis court on Friday or be held in contempt.
U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz said in an order on Monday that the court has run out of patience with ICE head Todd Lyons after ICE has defied the court’s orders for weeks.
“The Court acknowledges that ordering the head of a federal agency to personally appear is an extraordinary step but the extent of ICE’s violation of court orders is likewise extraordinary and lesser measures have been tried and failed,” Schiltz wrote.
Schiltz’s order is in response to the case of a man who challenged his detention by ICE in Minnesota earlier this month. The federal court ordered that the man be given a bond hearing on Jan. 14 or be released within a week of that date.
As of Jan. 23, the man had not received his hearing and was still in detention. Schiltz said in his order that this is one of dozens of orders that ICE has defied.
“The practical consequence of respondents’ failure to comply has almost always been significant hardship to aliens (many of whom have lawfully lived and worked in the United States for years and done absolutely nothing wrong),” Schiltz wrote.
“The Court has been extremely patient with respondents, even though respondents decided to send thousands of agents to Minnesota to detain aliens without making any provision for dealing with the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were sure to result.”
Schiltz was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush. U.S. District Judge Michael Davis, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, has also accused the Trump administration of defying court orders, “or at least to stretch the legal process to the breaking point in an attempt to deny noncitizens their due process rights.”
Last week, the Trump administration pushed for Schiltz to assist in the arrest of former CNN anchor-turned independent journalist Don Lemon. This was after Lemon visited a Minneapolis-area church to cover a demonstration by anti-ICE protesters.
Schiltz refused the Trump administration’s bid to arrest Lemon.