{"id":16230,"date":"2026-01-27T16:02:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T16:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=16230"},"modified":"2026-01-27T16:02:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T16:02:22","slug":"minnesota-judge-summons-acting-ice-director-warns-of-contempt-over-court-defiance-ice-us-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=16230","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota judge summons acting ICE director, warns of contempt over court defiance | ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Minnesota\u2019s top federal judge has summoned the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a> (ICE) to appear before him on Friday, warning he may be held in contempt for allegedly defying court orders.<\/p>\n

Chief US district judge Patrick Schiltz demanded ICE lead Todd Lyons explain himself personally in a three-page order issued Monday evening, declaring that \u201cthe court\u2019s patience is at an end\u201d.<\/p>\n

The rebuke follows weeks of tilting anger during the so-called \u201cOperation Metro Surge\u201d, the Trump administration\u2019s large-scale, aggressive and now deadly immigration enforcement campaign in Minneapolis-St Paul. The operation has generated numerous emergency lawsuits from immigrants claiming unlawful arrest or detention, with judges consistently ruling in their favor.<\/p>\n

Schiltz, appointed by George W Bush, accused the Trump administration<\/a> of deliberately delaying or ignoring judicial directives across Minnesota\u2019s federal courts. His order came in the case of a man he had ordered released on 15 January who remained in custody as of Monday night.<\/p>\n

The judge said the government\u2019s non-compliance had caused \u201csignificant hardship\u201d to immigrants, many of whom had lived and worked legally in the United States for years. He described detained individuals being sent to Texas when they should remain in Minnesota<\/a>, or being released far from home without means to return.<\/p>\n

Other Minnesota federal judges have voiced similar concerns. US district judge Michael Davis, a Clinton appointee, accused the administration of attempting to \u201cdefy court orders\u201d and \u201cdeny noncitizens their due process rights\u201d.<\/p>\n

Several judges are now considering broader legal challenges that could significantly restrict federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota or halt Operation Metro Surge entirely. Another federal judge is weighing whether the deployment of 3,000 immigration agents constitutes an unconstitutional occupation, a case that\u2019s gained momentum following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal officers last week.<\/p>\n

US district judge Kate Menendez has ordered government lawyers to respond by Wednesday evening to claims the operation was designed to punish the state for its sanctuary policies.<\/p>\n

Schiltz also clashed with the administration last week when federal prosecutors sought his help arresting former CNN anchor Don Lemon and others linked to an anti-ICE church protest. After he declined to overturn a magistrate\u2019s denial of arrest warrants, the justice department appealed directly to the eighth circuit court of appeals.<\/p>\n

The circuit court rejected the government\u2019s request, prompting Schiltz to write letters criticising the justice department\u2019s approach and highlighting the flood of what he termed \u201cillegal\u201d detention cases overwhelming Minnesota courts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#Minnesota #judge #summons #acting #ICE #director #warns #contempt #court #defiance #ICE #Immigration #Customs #Enforcement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minnesota\u2019s top federal judge … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}