A government lawyer who told a federal judge that her job “sucks” during immigration proceedings in Minnesota has been removed from her Justice Department assignment, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The court comments were made during Tuesday hearings in St. Paul involving several immigration cases, where Julie Le addressed U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell about the pace and pressure of the federal immigration docket. Le, a government attorney working on the matter through the Justice Department, was assigned to immigration enforcement cases in Minnesota after work for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the AP reported.
According to a transcript, Le told Blackwell, “What do you want me to do? The system sucks. This job sucks. And I am trying every breath that I have so that I can get you what you need.” In a separate remark, Le said she wishes Blackwell could hold her in contempt “so that I can have a full 24 hours of sleep.” The person familiar with the matter said the U.S. attorney in Minnesota ended her assignment after her comments.
Blackwell responded during the hearing that the volume of cases was not an excuse for disregarding court orders. The judge also expressed concern that people arrested during immigration enforcement operations are often jailed for days after judges order their release from custody, according to the AP report.
Le also told the judge that she worked for the Department of Homeland Security as an ICE attorney in immigration court before she “stupidly” volunteered to work the detail in Minnesota. She told Blackwell she was not properly trained for the assignment and said she wanted to resign but could not get a replacement. “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,” Le said, according to the transcript.
In a statement cited by the AP, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Le was a probationary attorney. McLaughlin said, “This conduct is unprofessional and unbecoming of an ICE attorney in abandoning her obligation to act with commitment, dedication, and zeal to the interests of the United States Government.”
Le and the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment, the AP reported. Kira Kelley, an attorney who represented two petitioners at the hearing, said the flood of immigration petitions is necessary because “so many people being detained without any semblance of a lawful basis.” Kelley added that there was “no indication” that new systems or instructions “to ICE are going to fix any of this.”
The AP report said Le’s remarks came as judges and officials grapple with strain in federal court proceedings tied to a Trump administration immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota. The report said ICE officials have described the Minnesota operations as their largest-ever immigration operation in the state since ramping up in early January, and said several prosecutors left the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota amid frustration with the surge and the Justice Department’s response to fatal shootings of two civilians by federal agents.