Thread by @kyledcheney

Since July, I've tracked at least 2,300 cases in which federal judges have ruled ICE has illegally detained people without bond or due process.

This is one that stands out:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

Minnesota courts have been inundated with these cases since the beginning of Operation Metro Surge last month. Here's a ruling by Judge Bryan from yesterday, freeing a man who as detained after living in the US for 20 years with no criminal record. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

Here's another ruling in Minnesota, also yesterday, releasing a man who was forcefully detained by ICE despite having *active* refugee status. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

Another ruling just yesterday in Minnesota: A federal judge calls it "particularly craven" that ICE transfered "a nursing refugee mother" out of state. Ta Eh Doh Lah was admitted as a refugee from Myanmar in 2024, has no criminal history and a 5-month-old. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

Yet another ruling from Friday, freeing a man detained by ICE in Minnesota who suffered severe head injuries during his arrest and has been hospitalized since. The man claims ICE has required him to be shackled in the hospital, against the wishes of drs. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

Here's another Minnesota ruling that just came in tonight: A federal judge is threatening DHS with contempt for transfering a petitioner out of the state despite a court order enjoining the administration from doing so. courtlistener.com/docket/7218245…

ANOTHER ONE: Ruling tonight from Judge Gerrard in Minnesota ordering the immediate return and release of a pregnant woman, who was apprehended on her way to work, and her husband + two sons. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

NOTE: The federal judges deciding bigger questions about ICE's conduct in MN have been inundated with these detention cases for months. They're the backdrop to everything unfolding now. Judge Tostrud has handled dozens. This ruling isn't in a vacuum:

https://x.com/kyledcheney/status/2015292970409267622?s=20

FOR EXAMPLE: Here's yet another MN ruling from Friday: Judge Menendez concluded that ICE was illegally detaining an Ukrainian refugee, ordering his immediate release. She is the same judge who is handling questions about ICE's use of force. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

AND ANOTHER: Hours before he ordered the Trump administration to preserve evidence from the Pretti crime scene yesterday, Judge Tostrud ordered the release of a Honduran immigrant he said was illegally detained — and for which DOJ missed the deadline to respond. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

Here is a story from earlier this month that captured the broad national rebuke by the courts of the Trump administration's mandatory detention policy – just as the Minnesota cases were beginning to ramp up.

politico.com/news/2026/01/0…

UPDATE: The judges in MN are working Sunday. Judge Menendez — who issued last week's injunction against ICE's retaliatory use of pepper spray – just ordered the release of a Kenyan woman arrested while picking up seizure medication at CVS. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

JUST IN from Judge Michael Davis (not to be confused with @mrddmia) scolding DOJ for suggesting judges in MN weren't giving serious consideration to ICE's position:

"Since November 2025, the courts of this District have thought of little else."

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

@mrddmia Suffice it to say, it is unusual for judges to issue this many opinions on a Sunday. Judge Tostrud rules another ICE detention illegal here: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

@mrddmia Judge DAVIS wasn't done -- in yet another Sunday order, he upbraids the administration for "an undeniable move...to defy court orders or at least to stretch the legal process to the breaking point in an attempt to deny noncitizens their due process rights
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…