Federal judges remain enraged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership are habitually blowing off court orders, Politico reported — and it’s a huge focal point of the strain building between the federal bench and the Trump administration.
This follows months of reports that federal judges are losing decades of institutional trust that DOJ lawyers take for granted when arguing cases. According to this report, however, many judges still trust line prosecutors at DOJ — it’s DOJ leadership that have no credibility with them.
“Judges in several states have recently taken pains to separate these attorneys from their bosses in Washington — and from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which they see as increasingly responsible, and unremorseful, for the rampant violations amid President Donald Trump’s mass deportation push,” said the report. “The dynamic has crystallized amid a deluge of emergency lawsuits filed by ICE detainees, which have overwhelmed court dockets and frustrated judges — who have overwhelmingly rejected ICE’s detention practices as illegal.”
“The flood has, in turn, put DOJ’s line attorneys in uncomfortable spots,” said the report. “They’re being thrust into courtrooms without specifics, often asked to defend ICE’s detentions without details and sometimes without being able to reach their ICE counterparts to get information. They’ve missed deadlines and been scolded by judges for offering boilerplate arguments. Some DOJ attorneys have resigned or been fired, further straining understaffed offices.”
Judges are increasingly speaking out about the situation.
“The judges of this District have been extraordinarily patient with the government attorneys, recognizing that they have been put in an impossible position,” wrote U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee, adding the fault really lies with “the Administration sending 3000 ICE agents to Minnesota to detain people without making any provision for handling the hundreds of lawsuits that were sure to follow.”
U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz, a Joe Biden appointee, had a blunter message: “The main problem is on ICE’s side of the line. In response to the Court’s order as to going-forward compliance measures, nothing came back from ICE. Nothing about how it might improve its internal processes. Or its training. Or its supervision … No commitment to do anything at all. And no statement of ‘regret.’”
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