Minnesota judge orders ICE chief to appear in court

Judge orders head of ICE to explain agency’s handling of bond hearings for immigrants it has detained.Published On 27 Jan 2026Minnesota’s chief federal judge has ordered the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to appear before him later in the week over the federal agency’s handling of bond hearings for immigrants it has detained, as protests over United States President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in the midwestern state continue.In an order dated Monday, Chief Judge Patrick J Schiltz said Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, must appear in court on Friday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Minnesota, ICE and the makings of a US civil warlist 2 of 3Trump’s approval on immigration falls to record low, new poll findslist 3 of 3Minnesota candidate bows out over Republican response to Pretti shootingend of list“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,” wrote Schiltz.The order comes after Trump ordered “border czar” Tom Homan to take over his administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota following the death of a second person this month at the hands of an immigration law enforcement officer.Trump said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that he had “great calls” with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Monday, mirroring comments he made immediately after the calls.The White House had tried to blame Democratic leaders for protests of federal officers conducting immigration raids, but after Saturday’s killing of 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti and videos of the incident suggesting he was not an active threat, the administration tapped Homan to take charge of the Minnesota operation from Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino.