Courts and ICE Enforcement in Minnesota

U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura Provinzino held Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Isihara in civil contempt and ordered a $500-per-day fine after the Justice Department failed to comply with her Feb. 9 order to release ICE detainee Rigoberto Soto Jimenez “without imposing any conditions” and to return all his property, including identification; ICE released Soto Jimenez by a Feb. 13 deadline but his ID papers were not returned. Isihara acknowledged the order “fell through the cracks,” blaming an overwhelming Operation Metro Surge caseload and short staffing in the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the judge said fines will accrue daily until the identification is returned.

U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino has held Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Isihara in civil contempt and ordered him to pay a $500 daily fine after the government failed to fully comply with her orders in the case of Rigoberto Soto Jimenez, a Mexican immigrant detained during Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota. Provinzino had ruled on Feb. 9 that Soto Jimenez, who has lived in Big Lake, Minn., since 2018 with no criminal record or final removal order and is reportedly in the process of obtaining legal status, was being held without a proper warrant, ordered a bond hearing, and then directed that he be released by 5 p.m. Feb. 13 "without imposing any conditions of release" and with all of his property returned. ICE met the release deadline but did not give Soto Jimenez back his identification documents, in direct conflict with the written order. In court, Isihara admitted the judge’s directive had fallen "through the cracks," citing an overwhelming Metro Surge caseload and staff shortages, which Provinzino deemed unacceptable and responded to with personal fines that begin accruing Thursday and run until the ID is returned. The rare contempt finding against a DOJ lawyer spotlights both the strain inside the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office and the growing willingness of federal judges to sanction government attorneys over how Trump‑era ICE operations are conducted and litigated.