Federal prosecutor tells judge 'job sucks' amid overload of immigration cases, court violations

Sarah Nelson, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Feb 4, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — A federal lawyer expressed frustration over the U.S. government’s failure to comply with court orders amid an overload of immigration cases swamping the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota since the deployment of 3,000 federal agents to the state.

U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell ordered attorneys for the U.S. government to appear before him on Tuesday in St. Paul federal court to answer why multiple deadlines to release five detained immigrants have been missed, despite orders for their release.

Julie Le described how she and others have had to work around the clock to address the wave of immigration cases filed in Minnesota’s federal court system since the start of Operation Metro Surge.

“I am here with you, your honor. What do you want me to do? The system sucks. This job sucks,” Le said, according to a court transcript. “I am trying every breath that I have so that I can get you what you need.”

Le’s comments are the most public expression of the turmoil happening behind the scenes within the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota since the Trump administration intensified its crackdown. In mid-January, six veteran prosecutors resigned over directives from the Department of Justice. Another eight lawyers have left or intend to leave soon, sources told The Minnesota Star Tribune.

In the first three weeks of January, the number of habeas petitions filed in federal court by immigrants seeking to get out of detention amounted to twice the number brought in all of 2025, the Star Tribune found. Court records show Le was assigned to 88 such cases.

Blackwell said he called the hearing after encountering noncompliance in just the past week.

“A court order is not advisory and it is not conditional,” he said. “It is not something that any agency can treat as optional while it decides how or whether to comply with the court order.”

While Blackwell acknowledged the volume of cases at the start of the hearing, he said it’s not a defense for the U.S. government to continue detaining people. If anything, he said, “It ought to be a warning sign.”

Ana Voss, a lawyer at the U.S. attorney’s office who is among the latest wave of resignations, told Blackwell at the hearing that it is not the U.S. government’s position that the surge has outpaced its ability to follow the court’s orders on detentions.

Pressed later, Le said that asking the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to fix violations of court orders feels like “pulling teeth,” and it takes “escalation and a threat that I will walk out” for a correction.

“Sometime I wish you would just hold me in contempt, your honor, so that I can have full 24 hours of sleep,” she said. Le said she submitted her resignation to the office but stayed because no one could be found to replace her.

The hearing follows Minnesota’s chief federal judge expressing similar frustration over ICE and the DHS repeatedly violating court orders to release detained immigrants on time.

In late January, Minnesota’s chief federal Judge Patrick Schiltz wrote his “patience is at an end” and ordered ICE acting director Todd Lyons to personally appear in court to explain why he should not be held in contempt. Schiltz ultimately canceled the hearing after the Ecuadorian citizen at the center of the dispute was released but said his concerns remain, accusing the agency of violating 96 orders among 74 immigration cases.

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