Main: Judge Laura Provinzino, then of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota, speaks on hate crimes in 2021 (MN Gov. Council on Developmental Disabilities/YouTube). Right inset: Attorney General Pam Bondi listens as President Donald Trump speaks at an event on addiction recovery in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington (AP Photo/Allison Robbert).
A judge in Minnesota found a military lawyer working for the DOJ in civil contempt and threatened to fine him daily until the Trump administration returns a released ICE detainee's "identification documents," the latest instance of government noncompliance amid a "mass exodus" of federal prosecutors.
The staffing issues were laid bare a few weeks ago, with more than a dozen resignations roiling the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota after the lack of DOJ civil rights probes of the fatal ICE and CBP shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
At the time, a DHS attorney volunteering to help with the caseload amid Operation Metro Surge tried to explain to a judge why the government had repeatedly failed to comply with court orders in habeas corpus cases.
Julie Le practically begged the judge to hold her in contempt so she could get some sleep, inundated by cases without — in her account — being adequately trained in what to do in federal court, as opposed to ICE matters in the executive branch's Immigration Court.
"If anything, it ought to be a warning sign," U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell remarked on the caseloads, stating that "detention is not lawful just because compliance with release orders is administratively difficult or because an operation has expanded beyond the Government's capacity to execute it lawfully."
Blackwell, one of Derek Chauvin's prosecutors, also suggested he was frustrated that he has repeatedly had to ask for "the date, time, and location of the release of someone who was ordered released, in many instances, a week or more in the past" and not gotten that answer.
Le then uttered the words that made it no surprise she would be swiftly removed from her role: "the system sucks" and "this job sucks."
A new addition to Bondi's team may have found himself in a similar bind.
Matthew Isihara has been helping out U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's DOJ as a special assistant U.S. attorney (SAUSA) on numerous habeas cases, court records show. In one of those cases on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino made a point to find Isihara in civil contempt, apparently frustrated — like Blackwell — by a basic failure of the government to comply with a court order.
Provinzino, a Joe Biden appointee, had ordered nine days earlier that an "unlawfully detained" Mexican man living in Minnesota "since 2018 with his lawful permanent resident spouse" be released from ICE custody in Texas and returned. But when ICE let Rigoberto Soto Jimenez out of an El Paso facility, he didn't have his "identification documents" and he wasn't returned to Minnesota. And he evidently still doesn't have his Minnesota driver's license or his Mexican Consulate ID.
According to local Fox affiliate KMSP, Isihara, a judge advocate general in the Defense Department, told the judge he was sorry this fell "through the cracks," pointed to U.S. Attorney's Office turmoil, and explained he's had around 130 cases to deal with so far.
Provinzino, for her part, called Isihara on the carpet after a hearing to show cause, warning of a daily $500 "coercive fine" until he can file a document confirming compliance.
"SAUSA Matthew Isihara is found in civil contempt of court. Beginning 2/20/2026, SAUSA Isihara is ordered to pay $500 for each day Petitioner is not in possession of his identification documents," a minute order said.
Before she was a judge, Provinzino worked as a prosecutor at the same office Isihara is assisting.