The chief judge of Minnesota’s federal court ordered the acting chief of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appear in court on Friday to personally explain why that agency has not complied with dozens of court orders in recent weeks.
In a filing late Monday, Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz said acting ICE director Todd Lyons must explain why he should not be held in contempt after his agency missed a deadline to provide a detainee with a bond hearing.
“This 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 wrote. “The court’s patience is at an end.”
The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday. Schiltz said he will cancel Friday’s hearing if the detainee is released. The judge, who sits in Minneapolis, was appointed to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush.
That would be playing with fire. Trump cannot pardon a contempt charge, judicial sanctions or being disbarred.
He may be loyal but how loyal is he going to be when it’s costing him, personally, $10,000/day in sanctions and/or spending the nights and weekends in jail until compliance is achieved.
The Judicial branch is slow but it is not toothless