Minnesota's Chief Judge Says ICE Violated Nearly 100 Court Orders in a Single Month

On January 28, 2026, Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the District of Minnesota stated that ICE had violated close to 100 court orders arising from Operation Metro Surge within roughly one month. Two days earlier, in Tobay Robles v. Noem, Schiltz had ordered acting ICE Director Todd Lyons to appear on January 30 to show cause why he should not be held in contempt, after the agency failed to give detainee Juan Tobay Robles a bond hearing or release him within seven days as ordered. Schiltz wrote that the court's "patience is at an end."

The court documented a pattern rather than isolated lapses: detentions past court deadlines, unauthorized transfers of detainees to Texas, and non-response to hundreds of habeas petitions. Repeated agency non-compliance raises the question of what remedy exists when the executive controls both the detainees and the power to prosecute contempt.

Tobay Robles was released, and Schiltz withdrew the demand that Lyons appear while saying ICE "is not a law unto itself."