Bill Melugin of Fox News reports,
Melugin links to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota’s 2019 annual report (page 16), where the name Patrick Schiltz appears.
Melugin reported later,
UPDATE: Judge Schiltz statement to @FoxNews
“I have donated for many years to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. I have also donated for many years to Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. I believe that poor people should be able to get legal representation.”
I first reported on the explosion of habeas corpus petitions filed in Minnesota federal court back on January 15. We are now up to 447 habeas petitions filed in the last 23 days. Nearly all have resulted in the release of persons held by ICE.
To handle the caseload, and to speed up releases, they brought up a “visiting” judge from MIssouri, Stephen R. Bough, an Obama appointee, of course.
It was a week before the habeas phenomenon was mentioned in any other news outlet. Suddenly, it’s a national story.
- New York Times: Judge Orders ICE Chief to Appear in Court Over Potential Contempt
- New York Post: ICE acting Director Todd Lyons summoned to court, threatened with contempt in Minnesota
- New York Daily News: Angry Minnesota judge orders ICE chief to appear in person for defying orders
- CNN: Trump has a new problem in Minneapolis — a GOP-appointed judge
- Washington Post: U.S. judge orders ICE chief to appear in court, threatens contempt ruling
- Reuters: US judge threatens ICE chief with contempt, orders court appearance
- U.K. Guardian: Minnesota judge summons acting ICE director, warns of contempt over court defiance
- The Hill: Minnesota federal judge, out of ‘patience,’ orders ICE chief to appear in court
- PBS: ICE chief ordered to appear in court to explain why detainees have been denied due process
The working theory on the federal bench seems to be that every single person detained by ICE was detained either by mistake or contrary to law. They rule, nearly always, in favor of the detainees, ordering their immediate release. Once release occurs, Judges close the cases with no further proceedings, so it cannot be appealed. What is ICE supposed to do then? No conclusion has been reached on the validity of the individual person’s immigration status. If ICE moves to re-arrest, are we just going to do it all over again, Groundhog Day-style.
