Federal Judge Holds DOJ Attorney in Contempt for ‘Flagrant Disobedience of Court Orders’

For the first time during Operation Metro Surge, ​U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino has held an attorney representing the Trump administration in civil contempt for “flagrant disobedience of court orders” in the case of a noncitizen caught up in an immigration crackdown in Minnesota.

​The case was filed on behalf of Rigoberto Soto Jimenez. Provinzino ordered the government on February 9 to release the Mexican national, who had lived in Minnesota since 2018, after finding his detention unlawful. He has no criminal history or final order of removal.

Soto Jimenez was arrested by federal agents at his workplace on January 14 and was denied a bond hearing in immigration court.

Provinzino’s order required his release to Minnesota from the Camp East Montana Detention Facility in Texas by February 13 and the return of his property, but the government violated it by releasing him in Texas and withholding his identification documents including his driver’s license, CNN reported.

​This is the first time a federal attorney has been sanctioned by a court during President Donald Trump’s second term.

​Judges in Minnesota, including the Twin Cities, and elsewhere are showing growing frustration with the administration for repeatedly ignoring or stretching court orders, especially in Operation Metro Surge cases.​This decision signals that courts may start taking a harder line — not just criticizing the government, but punishing it when orders are ignored.

On February 18, Judge Provinzino ordered lawyer Matthew Isihara to pay $500 per day until the immigrant’s identification documents, which were not returned when he was released earlier in February from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, are returned in compliance with the court’s order.

​Even as the U.S. Justice Department attorney tried to explain that the violation was accidental because of an “enormous volume of cases”, Provinzino did not back down.

According to a court transcript obtained by CNN, Provinzino said the government’s understaffing and high caseload are a “problem of its own making and absolutely does not justify flagrant disobedience of court orders”.

“I don’t believe I need to do additional hand-holding on this. I think it’s clear what needs to happen. The petitioner needs to get his documents immediately, and there will be a $500 sanction any day beyond tomorrow if they are not received by his attorney,” Provinzino said.

“It’s a capacity issue, your honor, and that’s the fundamental underlying issue,” Isihara said. “It’s not any willful attempt to defy the court.”

In New Jersey, a senior Justice Department official told a federal judge earlier in February that the government had identified more than 50 violations of court orders across hundreds of immigration cases filed in the state since early December.

​In Baltimore on February 18, a Trump-appointed judge closely examined claims that federal immigration agencies violated a 2024 settlement designed to protect certain young migrants with pending asylum claims from deportation.