Minnesota judge holds federal attorney in civil contempt, a first in Trump’s second term for “flagrant disobedience of court orders”

A federal judge in Minnesota has found a Trump administration attorney in civil contempt, accusing him of blatantly ignoring court directives in an immigration case tied to this year’s enforcement surge.

In a ruling issued Wednesday, US District Judge Laura Provinzino determined that government lawyer Matthew Isihara failed to comply with her order concerning a Mexican national who had been detained during a large-scale immigration crackdown. The decision appears to be the first instance in President Donald Trump’s second term in which a federal government attorney has been sanctioned by a court.

The case unfolds amid mounting frustration from judges in the Twin Cities and beyond, who have repeatedly cited the administration for disregarding court mandates in rapidly evolving immigration disputes. Provinzino, appointed by former President Joe Biden, ordered that beginning Friday, Isihara must pay $500 per day until the immigrant receives identification documents that were not returned to him upon his release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody last week.

During Wednesday’s hearing, the judge rejected Isihara’s explanation that the oversight was unintentional and stemmed from the overwhelming caseload generated by an enforcement effort known as Operation Metro Surge. She said staffing shortages and heavy workloads did not excuse what she described as “flagrant disobedience” of her directives. According to a transcript obtained by CNN, Provinzino said the responsibility to comply was clear and did not require further clarification. She emphasized that the petitioner must receive his documents immediately, warning that the $500 daily penalty would continue until they are delivered to his attorney.

CNN reported it has sought comment from the Justice Department.

Isihara, a military lawyer temporarily assigned to assist with a flood of immigration cases in Minnesota, argued that the failure was due to capacity constraints rather than deliberate defiance. The surge in petitions from detained immigrants seeking release had strained the local Justice Department team, contributing to compliance problems in multiple cases.

The dispute traces back to a February 9 order in which Provinzino directed the government to release the Mexican national—who has lived in Minnesota since 2018—after finding his detention unlawful. She required that he be freed in Minnesota by February 13 and that all personal property be returned. Instead, officials released him in Texas, where he had been held, and failed to return his identification documents. The judge cited these actions as three separate violations of her order and expressed concern that Isihara and his colleagues had not addressed the case until the morning of the hearing.

In recent weeks, Minnesota’s federal judges have repeatedly warned Justice Department attorneys and immigration officials that they could face civil contempt if noncompliance continued in cases tied to Operation Metro Surge. Legal observers say the imposition of monetary penalties marks a significant escalation. CNN legal analyst Steve Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, noted that while courts have initiated contempt proceedings before, directly imposing financial sanctions to force immediate compliance represents a notable development. He added that holding lawyers personally accountable for their client’s failure to follow court orders is not unprecedented but may be particularly significant in the current context.

Isihara’s defense echoed comments made earlier in the month by another Trump administration attorney, Julie Le, who faced scrutiny from Judge Jerry Blackwell over repeated failures to follow court orders in immigration matters. Le attributed the problems to staffing shortages and inadequate procedures designed to ensure compliance. She was later removed from her Minnesota post.

The compliance concerns extend beyond Minnesota. In Baltimore, US District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, an appointee of Trump, examined allegations that federal immigration agencies breached a 2024 settlement intended to shield certain young migrants with pending asylum claims from deportation. Several migrants covered by that agreement were reportedly deported before receiving the asylum hearings promised under the settlement. Gallagher did not immediately decide whether to hold the government in contempt but scheduled an evidentiary hearing after a Justice Department lawyer was unable to explain why the deportations occurred.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, a senior Justice Department official informed Judge Michael Farbiarz that the government had identified more than 50 violations of court orders across hundreds of immigration cases filed in the state since early December. The review was conducted by attorneys from the US Attorney’s Office after Farbiarz found that officials had disregarded his order prohibiting the transfer of an Indian national challenging his detention; the man was nonetheless moved to Texas.

According to the DOJ official, many of the violations were accidental, often resulting from delays in communicating judicial orders to ICE personnel or administrative oversights. Other instances involved missed filing deadlines or failure to provide bond hearings within court-mandated timeframes. Farbiarz has yet to determine what consequences, if any, will follow in the Indian national’s case, but he has expressed clear dissatisfaction with the pattern of noncompliance, writing that judicial orders “should never be violated” and are rarely ignored by federal authorities.

Source: CNN