A government lawyer who told a judge that her job “sucks” during a court hearing stemming from the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota has been removed from her Justice Department post, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Julie Le had been working for the Justice Department on a detail, but the U.S. attorney in Minnesota ended her assignment after her comments in court on Tuesday, the person said. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter. She had been working for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement before the temporary assignment.
At a hearing Tuesday in St. Paul, Minnesota, for several immigration cases, Le told U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell that she wishes he could hold her in contempt of court “so that I can have a full 24 hours of sleep.”
“What do you want me to do? The system sucks. This job sucks. And I am trying every breath that I have so that I can get you what you need,” Le said, according to a transcript.
Le’s extraordinary remarks reflect the intense strain that has been placed on the federal court system since President Trump returned to the White House a year ago with a promise to carry out mass deportations. ICE officials have said the surge in Minnesota has become its largest-ever immigration operation since ramping up in early January.
Several prosecutors have left the U.S. Attorney’s office in Minnesota amid frustration with the immigration enforcement surge and the Justice Department’s response to fatal shootings of two civilians by federal agents.
A second wave of departures hit the Minnesota office in recent days, including prosecutors who spearheaded a $250 million fraud case. An office that saw 70 assistant U.S. attorneys during the Biden administration now has as few as 17.
Le was assigned at least 88 cases in less than a month, according to online court records.
Blackwell told Le that the volume of cases isn’t an excuse for disregarding court orders. He expressed concern that people arrested in immigration enforcement operations are routinely jailed for days after judges have ordered their release from custody.
“And I hear 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,” the judge told Le.
Le said she was working for the Department of Homeland Security as an ICE attorney in immigration court before she “stupidly” volunteered to work the detail in Minnesota. She arrived on Jan. 5 and told the judge that she wasn’t properly trained for the assignment.
“We have no guidance or direction on what we need to do,” Le said.
In one instance, the court had ordered a man’s unconditional release, but Blackwell said he learned the government had imposed conditions that were not part of the court order. Le said trying to get it fixed was like “pulling teeth.”
She said she wanted to resign from the job but couldn’t get a replacement.
“Fixing a system, a broken system, I don’t have a magic button to do it. I don’t have the power or the voice to do it,” Le said.
Le and spokespeople for DHS, ICE and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Minnesota didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Kira Kelley, an attorney who represented two petitioners at the hearing, said the flood of immigration petitions is necessary because “so many people being detained without any semblance of a lawful basis.”
“And there’s no indication here that any new systems or bolded emails or any instructions to ICE are going to fix any of this,” she added.
Read the full transcript below:
