Trump-appointed judge finds ICE in contempt for violating court order by shipping man out of state

Source: Law & Crime

Feb 24th, 2026, 3:27 pm


A Minnesota federal judge on Monday found the Trump administration in contempt after a Mexican man was unlawfully detained, flown hundreds of miles away from home, and released in a Texas desert city without any way to return home — all in violation of a court order. The eight-page opinion and order offers a permutation of case law native to the second administration of President Donald Trump.

Such cases, which have quickly established precedent, mostly involve district court judges shutting down controversial efforts to reshape how the government classifies immigrants in order to detain them.

In the present case, petitioner Fernando Torres won habeas corpus release in late January by convincing U.S. District Judge Eric C. Tostrud, a first-term Trump appointee, that he had been "misclassified" by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
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"This raises an issue of statutory interpretation that courts in this District have repeatedly considered and rejected, and it will be rejected here as well," Tostrud wrote in his earlier order. "Respondents shall release Petitioner from custody as soon as practicable."

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/no-explanation-trump-appointed-judge-finds-ice-in-contempt-for-violating-court-order-by-shipping-man-out-of-state-demands-reimbursement-for-airfare-back-home/