Minnesota’s top federal judge has summoned the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to appear before him on Friday, warning he may be held in contempt for allegedly defying court orders.
Chief US district judge Patrick Schiltz demanded Ice lead Todd Lyons explain himself personally in a three-page order, adding that “the court’s patience is at an end”.
The rebuke follows weeks of tilting anger during the so-called Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s aggressive and 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 favour.
The judge, appointed by former US president George W Bush, accused the Trump administration of deliberately delaying or ignoring judicial directives across Minnesota’s federal courts.
His order came in the case of a man he directed be released on January 15th, but who remained in custody as of Monday night.
The judge said the government’s noncompliance had caused “significant hardship” 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, or being released far from home without means to return.
Other Minnesota federal judges have voiced similar concerns. US district judge Michael Davis, a Clinton appointee, accused the administration of attempting to “defy court orders” and “deny non-citizens their due process rights”.
Several judges are now considering broader legal challenges that could significantly restrict federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota or halt the operation entirely.
Meanwhile, Gregory Bovino, the border patrol commander who has become the public face of the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, was expected to leave the city on Tuesday as the Trump administration reshuffled the leadership of its immigration enforcement operation and scaled back the federal presence after a second fatal shooting by officers.
A senior Trump administration official said the 55-year-old, who has been a lightning rod for criticism from Democrats and civil liberties activists, would be leaving Minnesota along with some of the agents deployed with him.
A different person familiar with the matter said Bovino had been stripped of his specially created title of “commander at large” of the border patrol and would return to his former job as a chief patrol agent along California’s El Centro sector of the US-Mexico border.
President Trump announced yesterday that he was sending Tom Homan, his “border tsar”, to Minnesota to oversee operations there, reporting directly to the president.
Mr Bovino’s departure comes amid a sharp shift in strategy from the White House after the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse.
Earlier in the day, Mr Trump said he had held conciliatory calls with Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, Democrats he had previously blamed for the turmoil that escalated into two killings of US citizens by federal agents.
Word of Mr Bovino’s demotion was first reported by the Atlantic on Monday, citing an official from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees Ice, and two others with knowledge of the change. The Atlantic said Mr Bovino was expected to retire soon.
The DHS pushed back on the demotion reports in response to a tweet from conservative influencer Nick Sortor claiming Mr Bovino’s official commander-at-large role had been “eliminated”.
“Chief Gregory Bovino has NOT been relieved of his duties,” said DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, noting earlier comments from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt praising Mr Bovino as a “key part of the president’s team and a great American”.
News of Mr Bovino’s departure did not stop dozens of protesters from gathering outside a hotel where they believed he was staying. They blew whistles and banged pots, and one person blasted a trombone. Police watched and kept them away from the hotel entrance.
During a White House briefing on Monday, Ms Leavitt struck a conciliatory tone, calling Mr Pretti’s death a “tragedy” and appearing to mitigate previous comments from White House adviser Stephen Miller calling Mr Pretti a “would-be assassin”.
Mr Trump had earlier said that his administration was reviewing the shooting of Mr Pretti by a federal officer.
Mr Trump and Mr Walz – an otherwise regular target of the president’s ire and ridicule – said they had had a call to discuss the federal immigration surge. The president described it in positive terms. “It was a very good call, and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social. – The Guardian