The chief judge, a George W. Bush appointee, said the administration had repeatedly violated or slow-walked court orders in Minnesota.
Minnesota’s chief federal judge has ordered the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Todd Lyons, to appear in his courtroom Friday and threatened to hold him in contempt for what he says has been repeated defiance of judges’ orders in the state.
“The court’s patience is at an end,” U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz said in a three-page order issued Monday night, demanding the acting director explain himself “personally.”
Schiltz’s frustration has been boiling for weeks amid Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s massive immigration enforcement action in the Twin Cities. The operation has flooded the courts with emergency lawsuits brought by immigrants who say they have been illegally arrested or detained. The judges in the district have agreed nearly every time, ordering their immediate release from custody and warning, in increasingly alarming terms, about rampant violations of the law.
That is literally what it says he’s going to do. That’s what “hold in contempt…” means.
Hold in contempt can just mean a finding of contempt of court. The judge holds (the oponion that) the person is in contempt
Punishments can then be fines, sanctions, or actual jailing, which is also called being held in contempt.
No - issuing a court order for ICE to depart the state of Minnesota immediately, and that any agents remaining in the state have no jurisdiction or legal standing as far as the state is concerned, and that they can and must be arrested by local and state authorities for breaking those orders would be “something”. Frankly, given that order, it would be completely warranted if cities in Minnesota started responding to ICE reports by dispatching SWAT teams. And hey - that’s actually a way that might significantly improve the public perception of their police forces: actually using their authority to protect citizens from an agency that’s clearly decided laws do not matter to them whatsoever.
Also, yes, that would 100% be a “constitutional crisis” in terms of states challenging the power of the federal government… but…
Really, I’ve lost count. I have no idea where the constitutional crisis count is at this point.
That’s what I want to happen, but I’m afraid it will lead to A LOT more civil unrest, nationwide, which unfortunately means more people dying
I simply don’t think there’s a way out of this without some level of violence - primarily because I don’t believe anyone in the regime is going to allow a fair election to occur again - let alone a peaceful transition of power if they lose. If by some miracle they DO hold an election, and it’s fair, and it’s unadulterated, and they lose, the shit they’ll surely pull will make J6 look like a fucking kindergarten play date.
I mean, I agree with you. Things are probably going to get a lot worse before they can get better, and whatever “better” looks like will not be what it was before.
That’s what they said last time. It’s just a perpetual finger wagging at this point.
Except it is, again, not the end because they haven’t done anything. The judge is only threatening. The end would be doing the thing we all need him to do, the order of contempt.
Am I wrong, but don’t they have until Friday? So, we’ll find out next week?
The legal system is not designed or meant to be swift. If it is, it is being abused. See: millions of false arrests and innocent people being executed for crimes they did not commit. Real justice takes time, and should be cold, as in not politically or otherwise biased.
Not saying that it is the end, just a step forward
Judges have threatened them with contempt several times now and not a one has followed through.
I think this is the closest they’ve come and all he did is refer it to an inquiry into whether or not they did commit contempt. An inquiry, that I might add, was immediately put on hold by a court of appeals.
This is not a step forward. It’s the same thing over and over. It’s nothing but theater until they actually lock them up.
If saying you’ll do something is a step forward, then we must have looped the earth by now.
It doesn’t though. It means they could be fined or imprisoned.
Sure, but that’s definitely closer to jailing these fuckers than we’ve been so far, right? Progressing (middling as it is) is progress.