DHS attorney fired after telling judge about impossible ICE caseload in Minnesota

DHS attorney Julie T. Le was removed from her temporary detail and fired from her DHS position on February 5, 2026, one day after telling U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell in Minneapolis that managing 88 immigration cases in less than a month meant "this job sucks" and she wished he would hold her in contempt for "24 hours of sleep." Judge Blackwell had convened the hearing after ICE repeatedly defied his orders to release five detainees he ruled were illegally held. Chief Federal Judge Patrick Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee, separately documented 96 instances of ICE defying court orders in 74 cases, while Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen told the Eighth Circuit his office had canceled all civil and criminal enforcement work and was "operating in a reactive mode" due to Operation Metro Surge's caseload.