A law enforcement agency executing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has been described as a serial violator of court orders in Minnesota.
The declaration didn’t come from the Democratic governor or Minneapolis’ Democratic mayor, who have repeatedly traded barbs with President Donald Trump. It was a federal judge with a conservative pedigree who has added a powerful voice to a saga that has stirred the nation.
“ICE is not a law unto itself,” Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz wrote this week, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Schiltz wasn’t referring to the tactics of immigration officers, who have killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, burst into homes with battering rams, smashed windows and pulled people from cars, and tossed tear gas at irate protesters.
Rather, after surveying other judges in his court, Schiltz was talking about the government’s failure to comply with nearly 100 court orders since Jan. 1 in 74 cases in which people arrested during Operation Metro Surge have sued seeking release or other relief. Even that number, he said, is “almost certainly substantially understated.”
