Judge weighs contempt against DOJ over repeated ICE surge court‑order violations
Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz is weighing whether to hold Acting U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen—or another senior DOJ official—in contempt after finding widespread failures by ICE and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to comply with habeas and release orders tied to Operation Metro Surge, with the court tallying roughly 210 violated orders in 143 cases and already imposing fines on a government attorney. The compliance breakdown—exemplified by a warrantless battering‑ram arrest in Minneapolis, reports of released detainees being re‑transferred or flown out of state, and a surge of 700–1,000+ habeas filings—has overwhelmed the U.S. Attorney’s Office, spurred mass departures of AUSAs, and escalated public clashes between judges and DOJ.
📌 Key Facts
- U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz is actively weighing whether to hold Acting U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen or another top DOJ official in Minnesota in contempt for repeated failures to comply with habeas and release orders tied to Operation Metro Surge, and has said he may impose fines, personal sanctions or jail if noncompliance continues.
- Federal courts and reporters have identified widespread noncompliance: Schiltz’s supplemental order documents at least 210 violated court orders in 143 cases, while statewide litigation has surged to more than 1,000 habeas petitions challenging Metro Surge detentions (with earlier counts showing hundreds filed in January–February).
- Concrete case examples show the pattern judges are condemning: in Minneapolis a judge found ICE’s battering‑ram, warrantless home entry against Garrison Gibson violated the Fourth Amendment, ordered his release, and ICE agents re‑arrested him at the federal building (DHS later said it intends to restart deportation proceedings); in Rigoberto Soto Jimenez’s case, a judge ordered release and return of property but he was flown to Texas without IDs, prompting a civil‑contempt finding against SAUSA Matthew Isihara and a $500‑per‑day fine until the IDs were returned.
- Multiple judges (including Schiltz and Judge Laura Provinzino) have escalated from warnings to actual contempt findings or fines and have publicly rebuked DOJ and ICE for repeatedly flouting court orders; commentators described some sanctions as unprecedented in recent history.
- The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota says it is overwhelmed by the caseload: its civil division has been roughly halved, more than a dozen experienced AUSAs have left or been reassigned, senior civil lawyers (including Ana Voss) departed, and motions acknowledge a 'crushing burden' that has diverted resources from other priorities.
- Defense and immigration attorneys report aggressive Metro Surge tactics—people being grabbed from streets and flown out of state within hours—prompting emergency habeas filings; more than 90% of recent habeas petitions in the Twin Cities have resulted in either release or a bond hearing.
- Judges and courts have tied many habeas wins to ICE’s disregard for court orders and to structural failures in how DHS/DOJ implemented Metro Surge, saying the deployment of thousands of agents proceeded without adequate civil‑litigation or due‑process planning and placed line AUSAs in an 'impossible position.'
- The Metro Surge has had local community impacts: Minneapolis officials are directing residents to vetted aid organizations, immigrant‑owned businesses such as Mercado Central report severe hardship and fundraising needs, and the city warned of phishing and scam donation attempts connected to the surge.
📊 Relevant Data
Based on 2014-2023 American Community Survey data, 37.5% of Somali immigrant adults in Minnesota live below the poverty line, compared to 6.9% of native-born adults.
Somali Immigrants in Minnesota — Center for Immigration Studies
81% of Somali-headed households in Minnesota receive some form of welfare, compared to 21% of native-headed households, according to 2014-2023 American Community Survey data.
Somali Immigrants in Minnesota — Center for Immigration Studies
The institutionalization rate for young Somali men aged 18-39 in Minnesota is 1.5% (15 per 1,000), compared to 1.3% (13 per 1,000) for natives, based on limited census data.
Somali Immigrants in Minnesota — Center for Immigration Studies
Over 400 Somali immigrants were arrested in Minnesota as part of Operation Metro Surge, according to reports.
ICE continues to raid Somali communities in Minnesota as part of Operation Metro Surge — The National Desk (via Facebook)
📰 Source Timeline (13)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time
March 04, 2026
2:42 AM
Judge weighs contempt against top Department of Justice official in Minnesota over ICE orders
New information:
- Judge Patrick Schiltz is now specifically weighing whether to hold Acting U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen (or another top DOJ official in Minnesota) in contempt over ongoing failures to comply with habeas and release orders in Operation Metro Surge cases.
- The article details that despite prior warnings and supplemental orders, ICE/DOJ have continued to miss deadlines or ignore clear court directives in a subset of surge detentions, prompting the judge to actively consider contempt rather than just threaten it.
- It adds fresh context from the latest hearing and filings about how the U.S. Attorney’s Office is handling the volume of habeas cases, what excuses DOJ is offering, and what kinds of sanctions (fines, personal sanctions, or jailing) are now on the table.
February 27, 2026
4:26 PM
Federal judge threatens top prosecutor with contempt 'again and again and again' for violated court orders
New information:
- Schiltz’s Feb. 26 supplemental order says ICE and the U.S. Attorney’s Office have now violated at least 210 court orders in 143 cases (97 orders in 66 cases plus another 113 orders in 77 more cases).
- He calls out U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen by name, quoting and rebutting a Feb. 9 email in which Rosen accused the judge of overstating the scope of ICE’s noncompliance.
- Schiltz writes that DOJ’s own decisions — sending 3,000 ICE agents with no civil‑litigation plan — created an 'impossible position' for line AUSAs, and says the court is unaware of any other time in U.S. history a federal court has had to threaten contempt 'again and again and again' to force the U.S. government to obey orders.
- In just the last week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has already been cited twice for civil contempt, and Schiltz now explicitly raises the prospect of criminal contempt and jail if orders keep being violated.
- Rosen has also been ordered to testify in a separate hearing next week over ICE’s failure to return property and paperwork to immigrants after release.
1:38 PM
Chief Judge Schiltz: ‘One way or another, ICE will comply with this court’s orders’
New information:
- Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz told lawyers in open court that 'one way or another, ICE will comply with this court’s orders,' signaling he is prepared to ratchet up sanctions beyond the earlier $500‑per‑day contempt fine against SAUSA Matthew Isihara.
- The judge made clear he is considering direct coercive measures against the agency — including higher fines and, in extremis, jailing officials — if ICE continues to flout habeas release orders by transferring or holding people after relief is granted.
- Schiltz used the hearing to warn that Minnesota’s federal docket is being overwhelmed by Metro Surge–related habeas work, and that he will not let ICE’s operational choices render the local court system 'dysfunctional.'
February 20, 2026
12:29 AM
ICE in Minnesota: Federal judge's contempt ruling highlights Minnesota court frustrations
New information:
- U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino held Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Isihara in civil contempt for failing to comply with her order in the habeas case of Rigoberto Soto Jimenez.
- Provinzino had ordered Soto Jimenez released by Feb. 13 in Minnesota with all of his property returned; ICE instead dumped him in Texas without his Minnesota driver’s license or Mexican consular ID and never got him home or his IDs back by the deadline.
- At a follow‑up hearing nearly a week later, Isihara admitted the government "dropped the ball" and blamed an overwhelmed, understaffed U.S. Attorney’s Office coping with roughly 1,000 Metro‑Surge habeas filings.
- Provinzino imposed a personal $500‑per‑day civil‑contempt fine on Isihara for each day Soto Jimenez remained without his identification, though the Fox 9 piece reports the IDs were finally being returned, likely mooting the fine.
- U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen publicly blasted Provinzino’s contempt order as a "lawless abuse of judicial power," underscoring open warfare between the bench and DOJ over Metro Surge detentions.
- Politico legal‑affairs reporter Kyle Cheney told Fox 9 this is the first time he’s seen a judge actually punish a government official for noncompliance in the current wave of immigration habeas cases, after months of ignored threats.
February 19, 2026
8:08 PM
Lawyers filed over 1,000 lawsuits challenging immigrant detentions during Operation Metro Surge
New information:
- Provides a consolidated, updated case count and timeframe for Metro Surge–related habeas petitions that helps explain why the U.S. Attorney’s Office workload has become unsustainable.
- Documents multiple instances where judges granted habeas relief specifically because ICE defied or ignored prior court orders about release or transfer, adding granular detail to the broader 'crushing burden' narrative.
- Links individual habeas wins (and the legal theories behind them) to broader structural problems in how ICE and DHS rolled out Metro Surge without building any serious due‑process or legal review capacity into the operation.
February 11, 2026
11:08 PM
How to help Minneapolis community during ICE surge
New information:
- City of Minneapolis is publicly directing residents to specific vetted local organizations for food, rental aid, and mutual aid during the ICE surge (e.g., We Love the Twin Cities, Greater Twin Cities United Way, MPLS for MPLS, Minneapolis Foundation, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits).
- Article highlights Mercado Central as a flagship immigrant‑owned business hub on Lake Street that is struggling to generate sales and even make rent because of the ICE surge, and is now actively fundraising to stay open.
- City warns of phishing and scam donation attempts tied to Operation Metro Surge and urges residents to vet organizations before giving.
February 07, 2026
3:25 PM
ICE is frustrating judges and exhausting DOJ attorneys
New information:
- ICE’s own General Counsel Jim Stolley has suddenly retired, revealed via an out‑of‑office email, at the same time the surge litigation is peaking.
- More than a dozen veteran AUSAs in Minnesota have left since Operation Metro Surge began; the civil division has been "cut in half," according to U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen.
- Chief civil AUSA Ana Voss, who was managing more than 700 habeas petitions (already more than all of 2025 filings), is gone.
- The lead prosecutor on an upcoming April Feeding Our Future fraud trial recently resigned after telling a judge he would personally try the case; two replacements were just assigned with about two months to prepare.
- Minnesota DHS deputy commissioner John Connolly says the agency no longer knows who at the U.S. Attorney’s Office is actually receiving or working the state’s Medicaid fraud referrals.
- Veteran prosecutor Thomas Calhoun Lopez, who’d handled more than 900 cases since 2000, resigned from an ICE‑assault case and has been replaced by a lawyer who only graduated law school in 2024 and was sworn into the Minnesota federal bar last week.
- At least three DOJ attorneys now handling Metro Surge‑related matters were only admitted to practice in the District of Minnesota in the past few days.
- A DOJ lawyer went viral after telling a judge, on the record, "this system sucks, this job sucks," and former Acting U.S. Attorney Anders Folk is publicly asking whether the office "can even do its job right now".
February 06, 2026
6:06 PM
Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office overwhelmed by Operation Metro Surge litigation
New information:
- U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen told the 8th Circuit that more than 700 habeas petitions have been filed through the first week of February, after January’s filings alone already doubled all of 2025.
- Rosen says his civil division is down 50% in staffing and has 'canceled all affirmative civil enforcement work' to keep up with habeas cases and contempt hearings.
- DOJ motions now admit U.S. Attorney’s Offices are under a 'crushing burden' from Metro Surge litigation and have shifted resources away from other 'critical priorities, including criminal matters.'
- Minnesota district judges have 'overwhelmingly' sided with detained immigrants, ordering releases or bond hearings, which in turn generates contempt motions and rapid‑fire deadlines that keep AUSAs scrambling.
- Rosen describes his office as operating in 'reactive' mode, with lawyers and paralegals 'continuously working overtime' and courts setting deadlines within hours, including nights, weekends and holidays.
February 04, 2026
8:49 PM
ICE attorney out after 'this job sucks' comment
New information:
- Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Le, who volunteered to help with Metro Surge habeas litigation and had been assigned more than 85 cases, told a federal judge in open court that 'this system sucks, this job sucks' and acknowledged government attorneys are 'overwhelmed.'
- Le will no longer handle immigration‑related cases for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota after repeated ICE failures to comply with nearly 100 court orders in January and her comments about struggling to get ICE to obey judges.
- Chief civil attorney Ana Voss, who was overseeing more than 600 habeas petitions stemming from Metro Surge, is also leaving an already depleted civil division.
- A DOJ spokesperson responded by blaming 'activist judges' for the flood of habeas filings and insisting the Trump administration is 'more than prepared' to handle the caseload, despite more than a dozen AUSAs having left the office in 2026, including lead fraud prosecutors.
January 22, 2026
2:43 AM
ICE detainees have already filed more habeas petitions than in all of 2025
New information:
- Federal habeas corpus petitions by ICE detainees in Minnesota have already hit 312 as of Jan. 21, surpassing the 260 filed in all of 2025.
- Immigration attorneys report more than 90% of their recent habeas petitions are winning either outright release or a bond hearing for detainees.
- Lawyers describe detainees being grabbed off Twin Cities streets and flown out of state—often to El Paso—within hours, sometimes spending only an hour at the Whipple Federal Building, forcing emergency filings.
- The piece reiterates that in Gibson’s case a judge explicitly found ICE’s battering‑ram entry and warrantless home raid in north Minneapolis violated the Fourth Amendment and ordered his release.
January 16, 2026
4:38 PM
Liberian immigrant re-arrested hours after ICE release in Minneapolis
New information:
- After the judge ordered his immediate release, ICE freed Garrison Gibson overnight and told him to report back to the Whipple Federal Building Friday morning, where agents re‑arrested him.
- DHS has informed his attorney they intend to restart deportation proceedings to send him back to Liberia, despite the court’s finding that the battering‑ram home entry violated the Fourth Amendment.
- Attorney Marc Prokosch says he is going straight back into court on two tracks: a new federal habeas petition and a renewed fight in immigration court against removal.
4:33 PM
Judge orders release of Liberian man arrested in Minneapolis by agents with a battering ram
New information:
- This piece is a fuller write‑up of the same case Judge Jeffrey Bryan decided, supplying narrative detail on the raid, the family’s livestream, and the terms of his release order.
- It reiterates that agents had only administrative immigration paperwork, no judge‑signed warrant, when they used a battering ram on the north Minneapolis home’s front door.
- It underscores that Gibson had checked in regularly with ICE for roughly 15 years, wore an ankle monitor, and has no criminal record, sharpening the contrast with DHS rhetoric about "criminal aliens."