Judges are regularly threatening contempt charges against the DOJ in immigration cases [View all]

Source: CNN Politics

PUBLISHED Feb 10, 2026, 5:00 AM ET


In some two dozen cases stemming from President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota that CNN has reviewed, federal judges appointed to the bench by Democrats and Republicans have had to use terms like “contempt” and “noncompliance” to get the government’s attention to respond to court orders.

To date, it doesn’t appear that any judge in the District of Minnesota has held an agency official or Justice Department attorney in civil contempt of court or imposed sanctions in cases related to Operation Metro Surge. But the sheer number of threats is significant.

Many of the punishment threats have arisen in cases where judges concluded that an immigrant was unlawfully arrested and must immediately be released. Other compliance issues have bubbled up when Immigration and Customs Enforcement releases a noncitizen with certain conditions that they weren’t subject to prior to their arrest, enraging a judge who never gave permission to impose such constraints.

“This is clearly not tenable,” Judge Laura Provinzino, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, told one top government attorney late last month. “I can’t continue to have (federal prosecutors) violating really important orders … If somebody should be released, that has to happen.”

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/10/politics/judges-contempt-justice-department-minnesota