Follow Al Rai
The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday sought from an appeals court to punish federal judges in Minnesota for making statements to the media criticizing the wide-ranging raids carried out by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in the state.
This step is the latest development in the confrontation between the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump and federal judges who have sometimes frustrated his efforts to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
On September 17, The New York Times published a report quoting Judge Patrick Schiltz, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for Minnesota, during a series of ICE raids last winter in Minneapolis, as well as six other judges.
Schiltz caused a stir during the height of the raids when he publicly stated that in January 2026, the ICE administration may have violated more court orders than all other federal agencies combined over decades.
Schiltz said in his statements to the newspaper that the administration's behavior had caused chaos in the court to the point that it "posed a serious threat to the rule of law," attributing the violation of court orders primarily to inefficiency and lack of staff.
The newspaper noted that it is rare for a judge to make such public statements.
It added that Schiltz and the other six judges declined to comment on cases pending before the courts, but agreed to speak about the disturbances that accompanied the ICE operation known as "Metro Surge" and the tension it created between the court and the Department of Justice.
The Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that it had filed a complaint of judicial misconduct against Schiltz and the other six judges before a federal appeals court, accusing them of violating professional ethics rules by publicly commenting on cases still under consideration.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said during a press conference that the Department had asked the appeals court to investigate these judges.
He added that the Department had "requested that these judges be recused from all cases involving the Department of Homeland Security, whether criminal or civil, due to the apparent bias they demonstrated in the article published by The New York Times."
During the "Metro Surge" operation, ICE agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens participating in protests against the immigration raids, sparking widespread outrage across the country and prompting the administration to scale back the operation.
The administration says the raids resulted in the arrest of 4,000 people who were in the United States illegally.
Know more about this story?Send us a tip
Ask about this report — answers stay grounded in its text.
