The Justice Department has removed a government lawyer from an assignment in Minnesota after she voiced frustration in open court, saying "this job sucks" and accusing immigration authorities of failing to comply with court orders, according to a source familiar with the personnel move.
The attorney, Julie Le, had been detailed from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota. She began the temporary assignment on January 5 to help address hundreds of lawsuits that had flooded the St. Paul court system. Those suits challenged the detention of people taken into custody as part of "Operation Metro Surge."
U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell ordered Le and another government lawyer to appear at a Tuesday hearing to explain why the administration had repeatedly failed to comply with court orders, including several that directed the release of detainees.
During the hearing, Le said she had "stupidly" volunteered for the assignment and described intense workloads. She told the judge she had worked "days and nights" on the cases in an effort to make sure court orders were followed. At the same time, she said she had not received adequate training from the Justice Department for the role and that she had faced difficulty ensuring that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement followed all court directives "which they have not done in the past or currently."
"What do you want me to do? The system sucks. This job sucks," she said in court.
Le additionally told the judge, according to a transcript, "Sometime I wish you would just hold me in contempt, Your Honor, so that I can have a full 24 hours of sleep." She also expressed personal concern about the impact of enforcement on people like her family, saying, "I am not white, as you can see. And my family’s at risk as any other people that might get picked up too, so I share the same concern, and I took that concern to heart."
A Justice Department spokesperson responded by saying the administration was complying with court orders "and fully enforcing federal immigration law," and blamed heavy caseloads on what the spokesperson characterized as "rogue judges."
The source familiar with internal personnel decisions said the Justice Department cut short Le’s detail to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The source did not say whether she had returned to her prior post at DHS. DHS and Le did not respond to requests for comment.
The situation has unfolded against a backdrop of strain at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota. The office has been handling a surge of immigration petitions as well as cases accusing demonstrators of assaulting federal agents. Earlier this month, six prosecutors, including some senior officials, resigned in protest over how the administration handled the investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an immigration agent.
At the hearing, Judge Blackwell acknowledged the energy the Justice Department was expending on the matters but cautioned that some of the burden was self-inflicted. "I understood the concerns about all the energy that this is causing the DOJ to expend, but, with respect, some of it is of your own making by not complying with orders," he said.
The episode underscores tensions between the judiciary and enforcement agencies over adherence to court mandates, and points to operational pressures within the U.S. Attorney’s Office as it confronts a large volume of immigration-related litigation and other high-profile matters.
Context and implications
The reassignment of an embedded DHS attorney after an exasperated courtroom exchange highlights the friction between courts ordering remedies for detainees and federal agencies tasked with carrying out enforcement. The staffing and training limitations the attorney cited, along with the Justice Department’s comment blaming "rogue judges," reflect competing views about causes of backlog and noncompliance.
Officials have not provided further details about any systematic steps to remedy the compliance issues described in court, and the source did not indicate whether Le returned to DHS following the curtailed detail.