Judge who held DOJ lawyer in contempt blasts handling of immigration cases [View all]

Source: msn/CBS News

12h


A federal judge who took the extraordinary step of holding a government lawyer in contempt of court earlier this week blasted the Justice Department for its handling of immigration cases on Friday, accusing the department's Minneapolis office of skirting orders and blaming staffing shortages "again, and again, and again."

The order adds to months of sparring between federal judges and the Trump administration, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement's mass deportation efforts cause an unprecedented flood of legal cases by detainees seeking to be released. Several judges in Minnesota have accused ICE of failing to follow orders in those cases.

In a hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino held an Army lawyer who was assigned to the Justice Department in civil contempt. She ordered the lawyer, Matthew Isihara, to pay $500 per day until the government returned identification documents to Rigoberto Soto Jimenez, who was released by ICE in Texas without his ID last week despite a court order requiring him to be flown back to Minnesota with his personal property.

After the government quickly gave back the man's documents, Provinzino lifted the contempt finding on Friday. She said no fines would be issued against Isihara, an Army lawyer who was temporarily assigned to assist the Justice Department last month. But in a nine-page order on Friday, Provinzino sharply criticized the federal government's actions in the case — and argued it was not an isolated incident.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/judge-who-held-doj-lawyer-in-contempt-blasts-handling-of-immigration-cases/ar-AA1WLOP0