The US Department of Justice wants to take action against seven federal judges for critical statements

The US Department of Justice wants to take action against several judges for critical statements made to the media. The ministry has accused seven federal judges from Minnesota of violating their duty of confidentiality by making statements about immigration authorities' actions, the ministry said. Disciplinary measures have been filed against them at a federal appeals court.

The background to the allegations is a report in the New York Times from September 17th. It cited seven judges, including Judge Patrick Schiltz, who was the chief federal judge of Minnesota at the time of the U.S. immigration authorities' operation in Minneapolis. In the operation announced on December 4th, employees of the immigration agency ICE and the border protection agency Customs and Border Protection (CBP) were supposed to arrest migrants without a residence permit.

Judge Schiltz had previously said it was "likely" that ICE "violated more court orders in January than some federal agencies have in their entire existence." He went on to say in the New York Times article that the chaos this caused in Minnesota's federal court system "posed a serious threat to the rule of law."

Such a public statement is rare for sitting judges, wrote the New York Times. She added that neither Schiltz nor his six colleagues named in the report wanted to discuss ongoing proceedings. However, they agreed to comment on the tensions with the Ministry of Justice and the situation during the operation.

US government accuses judge of partiality

The Justice Department said the administration of US President Donald Trump had asked the appeals court to "open an investigation" into the statements made by these judges. Justice Minister Todd Blanche accused the judges of violating their ethical principles. The “obviously biased” judges should recuse themselves from cases involving the Department of Homeland Security.

Trump has made combating what he sees as excessive immigration one of his top priorities. Courts have repeatedly ruled against measures taken by the US government as part of its rigid crackdown on immigrants and refugees. On the sidelines of protests against the deportation raids, US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot in Minneapolis in January. An ICE employee is held responsible for the death of the mother of three Good, and a member of the Border Patrol is responsible for the death of the nurse Pretti.