An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attorney who told a federal judge “this job sucks” has been removed from her role in the US attorney’s office for the district of Minnesota, according to reports.
Julie Le made the comments during a court hearing on Tuesday, in response to questions from US district judge Jerry Blackwell about why ICE had repeatedly failed to comply with court orders to release five detainees. “The system sucks. This job sucks,” she said, adding, “I wish you would hold me in contempt so I would have a full 24 hours sleep.”
Judge Blackwell had ordered Le and assistant US attorney Ana Voss to appear in his St Paul courtroom to explain why the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had missed multiple deadlines to release the five individuals, whom the judge said should never have been arrested. “A court order is not advisory, and it is not conditional,” Blackwell said. “It is not something that any agency can treat as optional as it decides how or whether to comply.”
During the hearing, Le acknowledged that many at the DHS did not understand the seriousness of a federal judge’s order. She said she moved from her job as an ICE lawyer to the Minnesota US attorney’s office on 5 January to help with an influx of habeas corpus petitions. Le also told the court she had previously submitted her resignation after handling more than 88 immigration cases in less than a month, but stayed because there was no replacement.
The hearing came amid intense scrutiny of ICE operations in Minnesota, where agents have detained adults and children without criminal records, including Liam Ramos, a five-year-old pictured in a viral photograph being detained while wearing a bunny hat. Tom Homan, the White House border czar, announced on Wednesday that about 700 federal agents would leave Minnesota, though around 2,000 would remain, far above usual levels.
