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An Ecuadorian man who came to the U.S. as a teen is out of federal custody after a judge in Minneapolis ordered the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appear personally in his courtroom on Friday to address delays in carrying out court orders in the case.

The man was released in Texas Tuesday afternoon, his immigration attorney told MPR News.

Minnesota’s chief federal judge had ordered the head of ICE to appear Friday, with the judge saying that ICE has failed to comply with dozens of court orders.

That’s amid the agency’s ongoing surge of agents to Minnesota.  

Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz in a Monday court filing, ordering acting ICE director Todd Lyons to appear in court, wrote that “the Court’s patience is at an end.”

“The Court acknowledges that ordering the head of a federal agency to personally appear is an extraordinary step, but the extent of ICE’s violation of court orders is likewise extraordinary, and lesser measures have been tried and failed,” Schiltz wrote.

The judge’s order was filed in the case of a man challenging his detention in Minnesota earlier this month. The federal court had ordered on Jan. 14 that he get a bond hearing — or be released — within a week. On Jan. 23, the man’s lawyer notified the court that he hadn’t received a hearing, and remained in detention.

Schiltz wrote Monday that it’s one of “dozens” of court orders that ICE has failed to follow in recent weeks.

“The practical consequence of respondents’ failure to comply has almost always been significant hardship to aliens (many of whom have lawfully lived and worked in the United States for years and done absolutely nothing wrong): The detention of an alien is extended, or an alien who should remain in Minnesota is flown to Texas, or an alien who has been flown to Texas is released there and told to figure out a way to get home,” wrote Schiltz, who was appointed by President George W. Bush and clerked for the late conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

“This Court has been extremely patient with respondents, even though respondents decided to send thousands of agents to Minnesota to detain aliens without making any provision for dealing with the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were sure to result,” Schiltz continued. 

The judge wrote that ICE and Homeland Security officials “have continually assured the Court that they recognize their obligation to comply with Court orders, and that they have taken steps to ensure that those orders will be honored going forward.  Unfortunately, though, the violations continue.”

The move by ICE to release the man means Lyons likely will not have to travel to Minnesota for a hearing Friday.

Messages left with ICE, seeking comment on Schiltz’s order, have not been returned.

The latest on ICE in Minnesota

Matt Sepic

Author

MPR News Staff

Man released from ICE detention after Minnesota’s chief federal judge ordered the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appear personally in a Minneapolis courtroom.

Man released from ICE detention, averting order for acting ICE director to appear in Minneapolis

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