A government attorney who told a federal judge this week that her job “sucks” and asked to be held in contempt so she “could get 24 hours of sleep” is no longer detailed to the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota.
Julie Le, a lawyer listed in public records as working for the Department of Homeland Security, had been temporarily assigned to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota to assist with immigration cases. An official familiar with the matter told a local NBC affiliate Wednesday that Le’s detail ended following those remarks she made during a court hearing in Minneapolis.
Le expressed frustration during a Tuesday immigration hearing before U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell, as the Trump administration continues a sweeping immigration enforcement operation in the state.
“The system sucks. This job sucks. I wish you could hold me in contempt so that I could get 24 hours of sleep,” Le said, according to reporting by NBC affiliate KARE.
Le reportedly commented inside the court hearing that it was like “pulling teeth” to get DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Justice Department to comply with court orders.
In a written order issued this week, Blackwell described the government’s conduct as “alarming,” noting that “persistent noncompliance with orders in this District was extensively detailed just last week.” He cited a recent notice from Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee, who wrote that his “patience is at an end” and outlined what he said were 96 court orders in 74 immigration detention cases in which he claims the government failed to follow court orders.
The Trump administration has said that, per the Immigration Nationality Act, it may treat many cases involving illegal immigrants as mandatory detention under § 235(b) rather than bond-eligible § 236(a), leading to hundreds of habeas corpus petitions from lawyers for the illegal immigrants challenging the legality of indefinite, no-bond detention.
Meanwhile, independent reporting by Julie Kelly has suggested that Schiltz may not have accurately counted the cases he claimed reflected defiance by the Trump administration.
Here is another randomly picked case and cited order.
There is absolutely nothing in this order that constitutes ICE’s violation of a court order unless Schlitz is referring to lack of warrant, which is not at all a settled issue.
I truly hope the DOJ calls Schlitz out for… pic.twitter.com/VPNCSY3319
— Julie Kelly
(@julie_kelly2) January 31, 2026
“I truly hope the DOJ calls Schlitz out for these blatant misrepresentations,” Kelly wrote on X. “It is clear he did not check his work, simply compiled a list either based on staff input or these judges themselves (I suspect the latter).”
The Washington Examiner asked a representative from Schiltz’s chambers whether he has full confidence in the accuracy of Schiltz’s tally of order violations. The representative responded, saying the judge “cannot comment about orders in ongoing cases.”
During Tuesday’s hearing, Le told Blackwell that “it takes 10 emails from me for a release condition to be corrected” and that she had to threaten to walk out for other issues to be addressed, according to KARE. She also said she did not feel properly trained for the role she was filling.
A Washington Examiner review of federal court records found that Le had been assigned 89 cases as of Feb. 3.
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Le’s reassignment also comes as the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota faces acute staffing shortages, an issue the Washington Examiner reported earlier this week.
The office has struggled to retain career prosecutors and support staff in recent months, forcing the DOJ to detail attorneys from other agencies and surge temporary personnel into the district to keep cases moving.