Federal district court in Minnesota is open again this weekend, logging more habeas corpus cases seeking to free illegal aliens detained by ICE. I do hope that taxpayers aren’t paying for overtime.
So far this Saturday morning (January 24), thirteen new habeas cases have been filed. bringing to 367 the number filed so far in 2026, That represents most (59 percent) of all civil cases filed in the district this year.
And the pattern is emerging that local, Democrat-appointed judges are reading the initial complaints and immediately ordering the release of the alien, without first hearing the executive branch’s side of the story.
Keep in mind that the ICE detention system is currently holding some 69,000 aliens (or more) nationwide for deportation at any given moment. Thanks to Minnesota’s lack of cooperation with federal authorities, few beds are available within the state, many detainees are moved out of state where there is more available space.
District judges, based solely on the representations of a deportee’s attorney (not available for public viewing), expect that a given subject can be located and returned within hours.
Here’s a case I’ve been following, File No. 26-cv-252, captioned Ramirez Orozco v. Bondi et al. The case was filed on January 13 and was assigned to Judge Susan Nelson (Obama appointed).
The general public cannot view the original petition, filed on behalf of Juan Ramirez Orozco of Mexico. The same day Judge Nelson filed an order prohibiting the deportation of Ramirez and demanding an answer from the government on January 15. The government filed an on-time reply, also not viewable by the public.
The next day, January 16, Judge Nelson issued an order for the release of Ramirez. On January 23, Judge Nelson issued another order, alleging that Ramirez still had not been released (he was reportedly being held in Albert Lea) and demanding hourly telephone reports on his status, and twice-a-day written reports.
Judge Nelson has also scheduled a first-thing-Monday-morning (January 26) hearing to hold the Department of Justice lawyers in contempt for not releasing Ramirez according to Nelson’s timetable. To repeat, none of the responses filed by the government are available for public viewing..
Judge Nelson has another hearing scheduled immediately after on Monday morning to hold the Department of Justice lawyers in contempt in a similar case involving a Somali national, File No. 26-cv-301.
I suppose when your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
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