WASHINGTON — A government lawyer who told a judge that his job was “sick” during a court hearing over the Trump administration’s increased immigration enforcement in Minnesota has been removed from his Justice Department post, a person familiar with the matter said.
Public prosecutor jumps from immigration detail in Minnesota after telling judge ‘this job is bad’Julie Ley had been working on detail for the Justice Department, but the U.S. attorney in Minnesota ended her assignment Tuesday after her comments in court, the person said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter. Prior to his temporary assignment, he was working for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
At a hearing on several immigration cases in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Tuesday, Lay told U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell that he wished he could hold him in contempt of court “so I can sleep for a whole 24 hours.”
“What do you want me to do? The system is bad. This job is bad. And I’m trying with every breath I have to get you what you need,” Lay said, according to a transcript.
Lay’s extraordinary comments reflect the heightened pressure on the federal court system since President Donald Trump returned to the White House a year ago with a pledge to crack down on mass deportations. ICE officials said it has become the largest immigration operation since the surge in Minnesota ramped up in early January.
Several prosecutors have left the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota amid frustration with the escalation of immigration enforcement and the Justice Department’s response to the fatal shootings of two civilians by federal agents. At least 88 cases were filed against Lake in less than a month, according to online court records.
Blackwell told Lake that the amount of litigation is not an excuse to ignore the court order. He expressed concern that people arrested in immigration enforcement operations are routinely held in jail for days before judges order their release from custody.
“And I can hear the concern about all the energy that the DOJ is expending as a result, but, with respect, some of its orders have been made on your own,” Judge Lay said.
He said he was working for the Department of Homeland Security as an ICE attorney in immigration court before “foolishly” volunteering to work on detail in Minnesota. Lay told the judge that he had not been properly trained for recruitment. He said he wanted to resign from the job but could not get a replacement.
“Fixing a system, a broken system, I don’t have a magic button to do that. I don’t have the power or the voice to do that,” he said.
Lay and spokespeople for DHS, ICE and the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Kira Kelly, an attorney representing the two applicants at the hearing, said the flood of immigration applications is necessary because “so many people are being detained without any semblance of a legal basis.”
“And there’s no indication that any new system or bolded e-mails or any directives from ICE are going to fix any of this,” he added.
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