Judge orders ICE head to appear in court over refusal to comply with court orders
Quick Summary
- Judge Patrick J. Schiltz orders ICE acting head Todd Lyons to appear in court.
- Lyons faces potential contempt for failing to comply with court orders.
- Judge says feds didn't make 'any provision' for dealing with hundreds of habeas petitions and lawsuits.
A federal judge in Minnesota has ordered the acting head of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appear in court over his alleged refusal to comply with several orders, threatening to hold him in contempt.
Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the District of Minnesota, a George W. Bush appointee, issued the order on Monday in the case of Juan T.R. v. Kristi Noem, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, et al.
Schiltz ordered ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons to appear in court on Friday afternoon “to show cause why he should not be held in contempt for violating the Court’s January 14, 2026, order.”
The Jan. 14 order granted a petition for the plaintiff identified for a bond hearing. Despite the order, the plaintiff remains detained and has not received the hearing.
According to Schiltz, this was “one of dozens of court orders with which respondents have failed to comply in recent weeks,” which has resulted in creating “significant hardship to aliens (many of whom have lawfully lived and worked in the United States for years and done absolutely nothing wrong).”
“This Court has been extremely patient with respondents, even though respondents decided to send thousands of agents to Minnesota to detain aliens without making any provision for dealing with the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were sure to result,” wrote Schiltz.
“Respondents have continually assured the Court that they recognize their obligation to comply with Court orders, and that they have taken steps to ensure that those orders will be honored going forward. Unfortunately, though, the violations continue.”
Since returning to the Oval Office last year, President Donald Trump has ratcheted up enforcement of immigration laws, with a sharp uptick in ICE raids nationwide.
In recent weeks, ICE operations in Minnesota have garnered headlines and considerable controversy. Earlier this month, federal officials said they made over 10,000 arrests in the state.
Several Minnesota elected officials at the state and local levels have voiced their disapproval of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operations in the state. Tensions were exacerbated after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good during an altercation involving her SUV blocking a street on Jan. 7, spurring more anti-ICE protests nationwide.
While the Trump administration argued that the ICE agent shot Good in self-defense, critics have claimed that Good was only trying to pull away from agents, and lethal force was not justified.
Another person, Alex Pretti, a nurse with the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, was killed on Saturday by Border Patrol agents during an altercation he had been filming them with his camera, drawing more anger and calls for the de-escalation of federal immigration enforcement operations in the state.
While Noem claimed at a press conference that Pretti — who arrived at the scene armed — was intending to attack the agents, multiple videos of the incident appear to contradict that narrative.
The U.S. Department of Justice recently issued subpoenas to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and other state officials as part of an investigation into whether they conspired to obstruct federal immigration enforcement.
