President Donald Trump listens as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of "Alligator Alcatraz," a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci).
For the second time in two days, a New Jersey federal judge harshly criticized the Trump administration in a case where an Indian immigrant was apparently transferred to another state.
The 5-page order makes good on an immediately-prior promise to take corrective action for the behavior of the U.S. Department of Justice and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In the Friday order, U.S. District Judge Christine P. O'Hearn, a Joe Biden appointee, directs the government to explain why sanctions "should not be imposed for failure to comply with the Court's prior orders."
"This matter comes before the Court pursuant to its prior Order issuing a writ of habeas corpus and ordering Petitioner's immediate release from custody," the judge writes. "More precisely, it is now again before the Court as a result of substantial concerns related to Respondents' repeated failure to comply with lawful federal court orders, both in this case and in others."
In the underlying case, the petitioner, Jagpreet Jagpreet Singh, won habeas corpus release by showing his detention was "blatantly unlawful from the start," according to the court's Thursday order.
As in many similar cases, the public record is scant because petitions for the writ of habeas corpus are frequently filed under seal.
What is clear is that Singh entered the country through California in January 2024 and was detained by Border Patrol. He has a pending asylum application but was detained by ICE on Valentine's Day of this year "in New York while he was driving home from work."
"Following his arrest, Petitioner was detained at Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, New Jersey, without access to counsel or the ability to make a phone call," O'Hearn recounts.
On Tuesday, Singh's attorneys filed the petition. Later that same day, the court issued a text order — a short order comparable to a minute order — requiring ICE to keep the man in the Garden State.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration promptly violated the court's order by sending Singh to a different facility in New York, according to a DOJ filing submitted on Thursday.
O'Hearn refers to that admission as "apparent clear defiance" of the no-transfer order and dings the DOJ because "counsel did not notify the Court until almost six (6) hours" after learning of the transfer.
Now, however, the waters are a bit muddied.
After the judge criticized ICE for violating her no-transfer order and for "repeatedly" violating similar "judicial orders more than fifty (50) times in just the past sixty (60) days," the DOJ says Singh might not have been transferred to the Empire State after all.
"[W]ithout any explanation, the United States Attorney's Office now advises the Court in a subsequent letter that, suddenly, 'ICE informed' them 'that it determined that Petitioner has remained at Delaney Hall Detention Facility since the Court's February 17 order and was never transferred in violation of the Court's injunction," the latest order reads.
At this volte-face piece of news, the judge appears to have had enough, saying the Trump administration simply cannot be trusted.
From the Friday order, at length:
[T]he presumption of regularity and integrity previously and routinely afforded to the Executive branch and the United States Attorney's Office has been undeniably eroded in this jurisdiction and across the country, and this Court will no longer blindly accept statements of fact from Respondents unless they are made under oath by an individual with personal knowledge.
O'Hearn goes on to reference a weeks-old order by a fellow Garden State federal judge, which directed the DOJ to account for how many times similar orders have been violated since December 2025. In that other case, the federal government admitted 56 such violations.
"[T]his Court has good reason to suspect that number is underreported," the judge opines, noting three separate cases which would likely "fall within" the "time parameters" outlined by the other court. O'Hearn adds: "This only furthers the Court's concerns as to Respondents' representations to this Court in this case."
The upshot of the Friday order is that now the DOJ must fully show its work with regard to Singh's case on various matters.
The government is now directed to file three affidavits under oath about: (1) Singh's detention and transfers; (2) the factual basis for the letter saying the no-transfer order had been violated; and (3) the factual basis for the second letter saying the no-transfer order actually had not been violated – all with "relevant documentation."
The court also, of course, directed the DOJ to "show cause" on the sanctions issue. All those responses are due by Feb. 23.
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