Chief federal judge of Minnesota Patrick J. Schiltz has lashed out at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for failing to comply with court orders. Schiltz has made it clear that he is not ruling out the possibility of pursuing criminal contempt charges against the federal officers in question.
He has also strongly criticized President Donald Trump’s chief prosecutor, Daniel N. Rosen. Schiltz was very vocal about the lack of preparation that he felt the Trump administration had when it sent ICE agents to Minnesota.
He wrote, “The judges of this district have been extraordinarily patient with the government attorneys, recognizing that they have been put in an impossible position by Rosen and his superiors in the Department of Justice. What those attorneys didn’t deserve was the administration sending 3,000 ICE agents to Minnesota to detain people without making any provision for handling the hundreds of lawsuits that were sure to follow.”
NEW: Minnesota’s top federal judge is threatening to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt if they continue defying court orders in immigration cases.
“One way or another, ICE will comply.” https://t.co/fMWUgzxRrq pic.twitter.com/DKPN3BdpyC
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 27, 2026
The judge has also been critical of the government for not following release orders that had been issued. Schiltz stated that a total of 96 orders were defied across 74 cases. Rosen, however, responded with his own date, challenging the numbers.
According to a Washington Times report, Rosen wrote in an email, “Judge, please pardon me for being so direct, but your order of January 28 did not merely contain some errors. Assuming the statistical sample we chose is as representative of the whole as I believe it likely is, the information compiled by others for your order was far beyond the pale of accuracy for an order that would be wielded so publicly and so sharply. ‘
Minneapolis has been at the center of the anti-ICE movement that has gripped the America public. After the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, both both American citizens and Minnesota residents, the outrage has been palpable.
Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar even took her protests to Trump’s State of the Union address. When Trump called for lawmakers to join him in solidarity with the American people and against “illegal aliens,” Omar said out loud that the president was responsible for the murder of Americans.
Omar received bipartisan condemnation for her behavior during the address.
OMG
Ilhan Omar’s SOTU guest was arrested for refusing to sit down and blocking people
She was also previously arrested in Minnesota for impeding ICE
Totally normal behavior from Ilhan’s hero. pic.twitter.com/GnwckVC7u1
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 26, 2026
Omar found herself in the middle of multiple controversies following the State of the Union address. Her guest for the evening, Minnesota resident Aliya Rahman, was arrested for her silent protest against Trump.
Rahman, a U.S. citizen, was injured after ICE agents allegedly dragged her away in a violent manner. Her removal from the address reportedly aggravated her wounds further.
