Federal judge threatens fines over ICE's failure to return property to Minnesota detainees
Following a contentious contempt hearing at the federal courthouse in St. Paul, U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen was instead in front of a federal judge in Minneapolis on Thursday after the federal government repeatedly failed to return the belongings to more than two dozen ICE detainees.
Rosen was again facing questions related to the missing property for people who were held in ICE custody. Judge John Tunheim is expected to produce a court order that will impose a deadline on the Department of Homeland Security to either return these people's items or provide monetary compensation. If that deadline is missed, Tunheim said that there will likely be daily civil fines.
Rosen argued that coercive penalties are not appropriate and will not rectify a problem he pinned on "mistakes" made under deadlines.
Rosen said that ICE had to make difficult decisions as it attempted to meet an overwhelming number of release orders. For those taken to Texas, he said, it became a matter of releasing people on time with or without property. He said that as the surge winds down, he does not anticipate the problems to persist, given there are only now enough beds in Minnesota detention facilities to handle detainees.
"Nobody has been wilfully disobedient. There have been mistakes that have been made, but that is a far, far cry from contempt of court," Rosen said.
While most of these cases have been resolved, attorneys for five petitioners on Thursday pointed out that it took the threats of contempt to get the federal government to finally respond to their clients' problems.
Josh Rissman said his client, going by Riky, was first detained on Jan. 5. Despite having a work permit from DHS, he spent more than a month in detention in El Paso, Texas. Once he was released on Feb. 18, Rissman said that his client was missing his work permit, social security card and about $100 in cash. He said that Riky — who is employed as a roofer and was detained on his way home from work — also lost his nail gun in ICE custody.
"It's like they made a plan to unconstitutionally arrest a lot of people, but they didn't make a plan to have to deal with their constitutional rights," Rissman said.
Rissman said that ICE told him the social security card has been located. However, the cash, his nail gun and work permit are gone. Rosen said that the federal government is disputing that Riky had $100 and a nail gun on him at the time of detainment, but said that DHS will still reimburse him based on Riky's account. He said that DHS can replace the work permit if Riky is still eligible; he said he didn't know if that was in question.
In another case under scrutiny during Thursday's hearing, Rosen conceded that a Guatemalan man's forms of identification are "lost." He said that ICE cannot locate his Guatemalan Consular ID, his Guatemalan driver's license or his Minnesota driver's license. Rosen said efforts to locate the documents have proved "futile," offering compensation.
The Guatemalan documentation will be very difficult to replace, the man's attorney explained, stating that the driver's license can only be obtained in Guatemala itself, while the consular ID can only be obtained at the proper office in Chicago.
"I drive a car and for that reason I have been unable to attend my children's medical appointments or take my son to therapy," the man said via a statement read by his attorney in court. "My greatest fear is being detained again for not having documents and having to explain to the officers once more that I have no criminal record and am no danger to society."
Tunheim mulled around a deadline of about thirty days but did not come to a clear decision in court; he said that will come in the form of an anticipated court order. He acknowledged that the partial shutdown impacting DHS could affect the agency's ability to rectify missing property claims, but said ultimately it is far more important for the federal government to get people what they are owed after unlawful detainments.
