Ex-assistant U.S. attorney says there was "no such due process" in immigration cases during Operation Metro Surge
A former federal prosecutor who volunteered to handle immigration detention cases in Minneapolis says she was assigned 88 cases in January — more than the entire U.S. Attorney's office handled the previous year — before being removed from her post after telling a judge "this job sucks" during a hearing.
Julie Le, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, says she stepped in to help as the office's attorney count dropped from 64 in January 2025 to 36 a year later during what she described as the height of Operation Metro Surge.
"I am the type of person that if there's a need I want to fill that need," Le said.
Le says the workload became overwhelming. In 2025, the entire U.S. Attorney's office had 77 immigration detention cases, she said. In January 2026, she alone was assigned 88 cases.
The comment that led to her removal came after a judge questioned her work, Le said.
"When you tell me that I'm not doing my job, it broke me into pieces. And that's when I said, 'this job sucks,' because as hard as I work, I couldn't get anywhere," Le said.
Le says the judge questioned her integrity. She stands by what she said.
Le, who immigrated to America with her family in 1993 and is a naturalized citizen, says she has been through immigration courts herself and felt compelled to speak out.
"I have to be honest with you, there's no such due process that I could see during the time that I was there," Le said.
After a month of reflection, Le announced she is running for Congress against Rep. Ilhan Omar and running as a Democratic Party candidate.
"I came here with nothing," Le said. "I am blessed now with an attorney license, you know, with all this education and experience, and it is now my time to give back."
Omar has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration's immigration policies. Le pointed to a key difference in their positions — while Omar has called for abolishing ICE, Le says she wants to keep the agency and reform it from within.
Le says conditions have improved since she left, with caseloads becoming more manageable. She attributed the earlier strain to a high volume of arrests that led attorneys to seek release and relief for their clients.
The U.S. Attorney's office did not respond to a request for comment.
