Prosecutor Who Said ‘System Sucks’ Fired
Federal agents make a traffic stop on a US citizen, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Minneapolis Prosecutor Removed After Outburst Over Immigration Caseload
A Minneapolis prosecutor who openly criticized her immigration workload in court has been removed from her temporary post at the U.S. attorney’s office. Julie T. Le, an attorney for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detailed to the Minnesota office, was dismissed Wednesday, sources told the New York Times, one day after a tense exchange with a federal judge in St. Paul.
Le told Judge Jerry W. Blackwell that she and her colleagues were overwhelmed by immigration cases stemming from President Trump’s statewide enforcement push. When questioned about why prosecutors had not complied with his orders to release immigrants he determined were being held illegally, Le described a system in collapse.
“The system sucks. This job sucks,” she said in court, adding that she was doing everything she could but lacked the authority to fix what she described as a broken process. “I don’t have a magic button to do it. I don’t have the power or the voice to do it,” she said. She described asking ICE and Homeland Security to address court order violations as “pulling teeth,” often requiring “escalation and a threat that I will walk out” before action was taken, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Le also told the judge, “Sometime I wish you would just hold me in contempt, your honor, so that I can have full 24 hours of sleep.” She said she had “stupidly” volunteered for the Minnesota assignment and had not received proper training, the AP reports. She had submitted her resignation but remained at the office because no replacement had been found. Le reportedly managed around 90 immigration-related cases, the Times said.
Judge Blackwell told her that heavy workloads did not excuse failing to follow court orders. “I hear the concerns about all the energy that this is causing the DOJ to expend, but, with respect, some of it is of your own making by not complying with orders,” he said.
Le’s outburst and rapid removal highlight the strain on Minnesota’s federal courts, where judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys are facing a surge of immigration detention challenges. “The DOJ, the DHS, and ICE are not above the law,” Judge Blackwell said, emphasizing that ignoring court orders threatens both judicial authority and the constitutional rights of people in custody.
It is unclear whether Le will face consequences in her permanent role at ICE. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin described Le as a probationary attorney whose conduct was “unprofessional and unbecoming of an ICE attorney.”
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