Perhaps the most successful front of the resistance against ICE in Minnesota has been inside federal courthouses in the state.
As quickly as ICE agents can take illegal aliens off the streets in Minnesota, lawyers run to federal court and win their immediate release.
Some 430 habeas petitions have been filed in just the past three weeks, completely overwhelming the system.
From Politico,
Minnesota judge summons ICE leader to court, threatens contempt sanctions.
And not just any judge,
The chief judge, a George W. Bush appointee, said the administration had repeatedly violated or slow-walked court orders in Minnesota.
The judge in question is Patrick Schiltz and the case is 26-cv-107. Judge Schiltz had ordered the release of one Juan Hugo Tobay Robles. As of yesterday, Juan had not yet been released from ICE custody.
If ICE does release him, then Friday’s hearing will be cancelled and the head of ICE, Todd Lyons, will not have to appear.
Politico reports,
The operation has flooded the courts with emergency lawsuits brought by immigrants who say they have been illegally arrested or detained. The judges in the district have agreed nearly every time, ordering their immediate release from custody.
Politico is correct that the habeas petitions work almost every time. The ICE “operation” didn’t flood the courts: the ICE resistance has.
The most frustrating thing (for me at least) is that nearly all of the documents in these cases are kept secret. We, the general public, cannot see the petitions themselves, so we cannot assess the facts of each case. Judges rule in favor of aliens without ever hearing from government lawyers, in these “emergency” dockets.
I’ve been following these habeas cases in Minnesota for the past few weeks. ICE agents risk life and limb every day to carry out the orders of Immigration Courts. only to have district court judges undo their work in a matter of minutes.
The Republican-appointee Schiltz channels his inner Tim Walz, writing,
This Court has been extremely patient with respondents [U.S. Dept. of Justice], 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.
…And justice for all.
