ICE and DHS failed to return property to Minnesota immigrants ordered released, prompting contempt threat

On March 5, 2026, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim held a "show cause" hearing in his Minneapolis courtroom after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security failed to return personal property to more than two dozen immigrants whom federal courts had ordered released after finding they were illegally arrested during Operation Metro Surge. Among the cases before Tunheim was a roofer arrested after work in Minnesota, transferred to Texas, held for more than a month, and released on February 18 still missing his Social Security card, work-authorization document, nail gun, and roughly $100 in cash; an Afghan woman ordered released in January who did not get back her cellphone, boots, and jewelry until the week of the hearing; and a Colombian asylum seeker, arrested at a routine check-in, whose belongings an ICE official said were "en route" from Texas but had not arrived. Tunheim summoned U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Daniel Rosen, an assistant U.S. attorney, and an ICE official to explain the noncompliance, and said he would issue an order within roughly 30 days specifying a fine schedule if the agencies did not return the property or compensate the detainees.

Rosen argued the failures were mistakes rather than willful defiance, telling Tunheim "nobody has been willfully disobedient" and calling it "a far, far cry from contempt of court," while attributing the pattern to an agency in disarray under the strain of what DHS called its largest operation ever, with roughly 3,000 federal immigration agents deployed in Minnesota at its peak. It was the second contempt threat against Rosen's office within a week: two days earlier, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan had summoned Rosen to a separate show-cause hearing over the government's failure, in 28 cases, to return property and otherwise comply with court orders arising from the same wave of Operation Metro Surge litigation. Attorney Mary Kaczorek, representing one affected detainee -- an asylum seeker with no criminal record and two young American children released without his Minnesota and Guatemalan driver's licenses or consular ID -- told Tunheim the government's conduct "has shown a complete disregard for my client's dignity." Both judges said they would rule soon on whether to hold Rosen and other officials in contempt.