type: timeline_event
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee, issued a blistering order finding that ICE violated at least 96 court orders across 74 cases in Minnesota during January 2026 alone. Schiltz stated that ICE "has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence." The judge acknowledged that his "hurriedly compiled" list was incomplete and that "undoubtedly, mistakes were made, and orders that should have appeared on this list were omitted."
The violations stemmed from ICE's practice of rapidly moving detainees to out-of-state detention centers and failing to return them to Minnesota for court-ordered bond hearings. In one case, the U.S. Attorney's office revealed it was taking ICE four days to return a detainee to Minnesota. When ICE missed a court-ordered deadline to hold a bond hearing or release Juan Hugo Tobay Robles, Schiltz scheduled a contempt hearing and ordered Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons to testify. ICE released the immigrant the day before the scheduled hearing, which Schiltz then cancelled.
Schiltz warned: "ICE is not a law unto itself. ICE has every right to challenge the orders of this Court, but, like any litigant, ICE must follow those orders unless and until they are overturned or vacated." The judge noted the violations caused "significant hardship" to numerous detained aliens, "many of whom have lawfully lived and worked in the United States for years and done absolutely nothing wrong." DHS responded by attacking Schiltz as "just another activist judge who is clearly more concerned about politics than the safety of the Minnesotans." University of Minnesota expert Tim Johnson called the pattern of defiance "unprecedented."