"I am not white, as you can see," Julie Le — a government lawyer — told a federal judge on Tuesday. "And my family's at risk as any other people that might get picked up too ..."
Ms Le clearly should not have been thrown into the deep end tied to a cinder block but that’s what happened. The US Attorney should be hauled in and told to bring his toothbrush.
The judge’s statements seem reasonable to me. He was trying to find out why his orders were not being followed. In our justice system, up until about February 2025, you can appeal a court order you think is wrong, but you aren’t supposed to ignore those orders.
Attorney Julie T. Le has been released by the Department of Justice; unclear whether fired as well by the Department of Homeland Security (ICE).
MS. LE: ... But, again, 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. I only can do it within the ability and the capacity that I have.
Dear Ms. Lee,
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
For caring about doing your work, and for trying past the point of exhaustion to help release the wrongly detained, even as you, a non-white American, worry about your own family being picked up. Thank you for speaking out your exhaustion and frustration, creating an opening for the inhumane reality to come fully to light.
As a British lawyer who has worked in a system which prides itself on the integrity of its lawyers (not always fulfilled as the appalling Post office case demonstrates) hand on heart I can say that I have rarely read or heard braver submissions from a government/prosecution lawyer.
Sadly her departure from the DoJ was all too predictable but hopefully after a long rest she will walk into a position in a good legal firm. They would be lucky to have her.
The fact that Atty Je must worry that the DOJ and ICE will come after her family is truly horrifying. This is exactly how Fascism works. If you don't bow to the State, the State will come after you.
This is the money paragraph for me, from the Petitioner's counsel:
"Detain first, find authority later, this is exactly their strategy, and we've seen this from all of our
cases where there's no warrant, there's no probable cause. Most of my clients, they report that respondents, upon detaining them, have no idea who they are. They are pulled over for how they look or for where they are or for any number of things that don't amount to probable cause under the U.S. Constitution."
No meaningful rebuttal from the USA. In other words, the purpose of the program is terror: terror in the immigrant communities, terror among potential protestors, and a show of overwhelming governmental power to prey upon, abduct and remove people from their homes and jobs and loved ones. I am not sure that any morally-centered person could live down the shame of our government. What a fucking disgrace.
Thanks, Chris, for this illuminating column and the transcript.
Send USMS. Drag everyone into court until you have the answers that your position as a judge entitles you to have. Contempt is not just a word in a book.
The judge clearly seems to be grasping the magnitude of the problem. I don't understand why his thoughts are merely meandering toward the obvious rather than moving decisively in that direction.
This is solid gold in terms of seeing into what is happening to the detainees picked up by ICE thugs who have no idea who they are or if they are legally here, or even citizens, as well as what is happening to decent professional lawyers bearing responsibility for DOJ's failures, while they have no control over DOJ's actions, and what is happening to decent professional lawyers working with little success to free the wrongly detained , and what is happening to the judges and courts whose orders on behalf of the Constitution go unheeded, endangering our entire system of justice. I so deeply appreciate Judge Blackwell for holding this hearing and keeping after the truth, and each of the lawyers for speaking the reality of their experience. When drastic actions such as Operation Metro Surge are impulsively put into place, with obviously little or no thought for handling the consequences, with a spirit of cruelty and dynamics of dominance and thuggery, every one of us suffers, because we are all inseparably connected as human beings and as Americans. If we as a people could see the reality of our interconnection, we might not vote for those whose purpose is to divide and alienate us from one another, and whose strategy is to so overwhelm us that we cannot see our hands in front of our faces, much less the person standing in front of us.
THANK YOU for this, Chris. This is priceless, and easy to read, thanks to your editing.
Correct! But I truly believe they did not impulsively put actions like Operation Metro Surge into place without little to no thought for handling the consequences. They deliberately did so to make sure the detainees would suffer and not be released quickly. They want to divide us and “warn” us that they can do the same to us. This is a tactic so that they can silence the courts and us.
Entirely possible, so no argument for me. I tend to go with "Don't attribute to malice what is done from stupidity," but there is obviously no shortage of either in this administration.
True, as Sewer says “the cruelty is the point”. That is why there is so much money for prisons in the BBB. They can lock any of us up and there is no way to get us out. We are Russia
I agree, but I note the other intention is to convince immigrants - whether documented or undocumented - to "self-deport". Not even DHS can deport the millions of brown people on Stephen Miller's radar before 2029. Miller relies on immigrants to do that work.
Which is to say, Miller relies on the brutality and wide-ranging illegality of ICE and BP agents to create a state of overwhelming fear and terror, which will then push even legal immigrants to self-deport. He should change his last name to White.
In 1862 Alexander Gardner’s exhibition of photographs from the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam was said to have “brought the dead and laid them at our doorsteps,” by the New York Times. This article has done the same for me. And I am heartbroken and angry.
Thanks for your appropriate analogy. I too have seen the Antietam images and this Minneapolis situation is creating heart rending consequences as well.
It’s not enough to have hearings to admire the problem. The only concrete result here was Attorney Le’s removal, which further promotes delay and overwhelms the system. Actual named parties and other government representatives who are responsible for ensuring compliance with court orders need to be held in contempt.
The failure to comply with court orders is not the result of the system being overwhelmed. There is a Youtube whete Tom Holman declares, early on, that ICE will ignore court orders.
Judges need to not just threaten contempt, they need to start playing hardball and take whatever enforcement actions are required. And refer these attorneys to state law boards for disciplinary actions. Stern words don’t matter to this administration. They need to follow judges’ orders. That’s foundational to our rule of law. Let’s get serious here.
I called my Congress people and suggested legislation where a million dollars is removed from BBB funding for detention centers for every court order that is ignored
That the ethnic cleansing machine has expanded beyond the legal system's capacity to deal with it sounds intentional. Trump/Miller are bulldozing every pillar of democracy.
Ms Le clearly should not have been thrown into the deep end tied to a cinder block but that’s what happened. The US Attorney should be hauled in and told to bring his toothbrush.
And the head of ICE, CBP and DHS if need be to get fucking compliance with the court orders.
The judge's thoughts seem to be meandering that way but I don't quite get why he isn't moving decisively in that direction
And it’s important that it was noted that Kavanaugh stops - a creation of SCOTUS - have added measurably to this terrible congestion.
The result of an unqualified, political hack who has no business being on that court.
Times five.
The judge’s statements seem reasonable to me. He was trying to find out why his orders were not being followed. In our justice system, up until about February 2025, you can appeal a court order you think is wrong, but you aren’t supposed to ignore those orders.
That was THE PLAN
A plan? I think it’s more the result of weak people trying to “get even”. Racism is not a plan, but part of a personality.
Attorney Julie T. Le has been released by the Department of Justice; unclear whether fired as well by the Department of Homeland Security (ICE).
MS. LE: ... But, again, 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. I only can do it within the ability and the capacity that I have.
Dear Ms. Lee,
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
~Bill Widener, attributed to Theodore Roosevelt
Thank you for caring and trying.
For caring about doing your work, and for trying past the point of exhaustion to help release the wrongly detained, even as you, a non-white American, worry about your own family being picked up. Thank you for speaking out your exhaustion and frustration, creating an opening for the inhumane reality to come fully to light.
I was also floored by her courage
As a British lawyer who has worked in a system which prides itself on the integrity of its lawyers (not always fulfilled as the appalling Post office case demonstrates) hand on heart I can say that I have rarely read or heard braver submissions from a government/prosecution lawyer.
Sadly her departure from the DoJ was all too predictable but hopefully after a long rest she will walk into a position in a good legal firm. They would be lucky to have her.
The fact that Atty Je must worry that the DOJ and ICE will come after her family is truly horrifying. This is exactly how Fascism works. If you don't bow to the State, the State will come after you.
And reading between the lines of of statement, she was told that is exactly what will happen if she doesn’t do what she is told to do.
This is the money paragraph for me, from the Petitioner's counsel:
"Detain first, find authority later, this is exactly their strategy, and we've seen this from all of our
cases where there's no warrant, there's no probable cause. Most of my clients, they report that respondents, upon detaining them, have no idea who they are. They are pulled over for how they look or for where they are or for any number of things that don't amount to probable cause under the U.S. Constitution."
No meaningful rebuttal from the USA. In other words, the purpose of the program is terror: terror in the immigrant communities, terror among potential protestors, and a show of overwhelming governmental power to prey upon, abduct and remove people from their homes and jobs and loved ones. I am not sure that any morally-centered person could live down the shame of our government. What a fucking disgrace.
Thanks, Chris, for this illuminating column and the transcript.
Yes - but they're all money paragraphs!
"Ultimately, Blackwell rhetorically asked her, 'Should I have a hearing and have that agency counsel come down here to answer these questions?'"
YES. DO THIS. STOP IDLY THREATENING TO HOLD THESE PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE AND ACTUALLY DO IT
Send USMS. Drag everyone into court until you have the answers that your position as a judge entitles you to have. Contempt is not just a word in a book.
Fuckin A yes, DO THAT!
The judge clearly seems to be grasping the magnitude of the problem. I don't understand why his thoughts are merely meandering toward the obvious rather than moving decisively in that direction.
This is solid gold in terms of seeing into what is happening to the detainees picked up by ICE thugs who have no idea who they are or if they are legally here, or even citizens, as well as what is happening to decent professional lawyers bearing responsibility for DOJ's failures, while they have no control over DOJ's actions, and what is happening to decent professional lawyers working with little success to free the wrongly detained , and what is happening to the judges and courts whose orders on behalf of the Constitution go unheeded, endangering our entire system of justice. I so deeply appreciate Judge Blackwell for holding this hearing and keeping after the truth, and each of the lawyers for speaking the reality of their experience. When drastic actions such as Operation Metro Surge are impulsively put into place, with obviously little or no thought for handling the consequences, with a spirit of cruelty and dynamics of dominance and thuggery, every one of us suffers, because we are all inseparably connected as human beings and as Americans. If we as a people could see the reality of our interconnection, we might not vote for those whose purpose is to divide and alienate us from one another, and whose strategy is to so overwhelm us that we cannot see our hands in front of our faces, much less the person standing in front of us.
THANK YOU for this, Chris. This is priceless, and easy to read, thanks to your editing.
Correct! But I truly believe they did not impulsively put actions like Operation Metro Surge into place without little to no thought for handling the consequences. They deliberately did so to make sure the detainees would suffer and not be released quickly. They want to divide us and “warn” us that they can do the same to us. This is a tactic so that they can silence the courts and us.
Entirely possible, so no argument for me. I tend to go with "Don't attribute to malice what is done from stupidity," but there is obviously no shortage of either in this administration.
True, as Sewer says “the cruelty is the point”. That is why there is so much money for prisons in the BBB. They can lock any of us up and there is no way to get us out. We are Russia
I agree, but I note the other intention is to convince immigrants - whether documented or undocumented - to "self-deport". Not even DHS can deport the millions of brown people on Stephen Miller's radar before 2029. Miller relies on immigrants to do that work.
Which is to say, Miller relies on the brutality and wide-ranging illegality of ICE and BP agents to create a state of overwhelming fear and terror, which will then push even legal immigrants to self-deport. He should change his last name to White.
Play worthy of the Theater of the Absurd … yet horrifically real life.
Impressive. Chilling. Thank you for the excellent reporting.
In 1862 Alexander Gardner’s exhibition of photographs from the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam was said to have “brought the dead and laid them at our doorsteps,” by the New York Times. This article has done the same for me. And I am heartbroken and angry.
Thanks for your appropriate analogy. I too have seen the Antietam images and this Minneapolis situation is creating heart rending consequences as well.
It’s not enough to have hearings to admire the problem. The only concrete result here was Attorney Le’s removal, which further promotes delay and overwhelms the system. Actual named parties and other government representatives who are responsible for ensuring compliance with court orders need to be held in contempt.
The failure to comply with court orders is not the result of the system being overwhelmed. There is a Youtube whete Tom Holman declares, early on, that ICE will ignore court orders.
Judges need to not just threaten contempt, they need to start playing hardball and take whatever enforcement actions are required. And refer these attorneys to state law boards for disciplinary actions. Stern words don’t matter to this administration. They need to follow judges’ orders. That’s foundational to our rule of law. Let’s get serious here.
I called my Congress people and suggested legislation where a million dollars is removed from BBB funding for detention centers for every court order that is ignored
Make it a billion dollars for each violation so there’s some skin in the game. $1M is couch change.
Hats off to Ms Le for getting the truths out in the open.
That the ethnic cleansing machine has expanded beyond the legal system's capacity to deal with it sounds intentional. Trump/Miller are bulldozing every pillar of democracy.