‘ICE conveyor belt’ illegally detaining, moving Minnesota children to Texas faster than courts can respond
The article reports that ICE agents in Minnesota have been rapidly detaining immigrants — including young children with legal status — and flying them to a family detention facility in Dilley, Texas within hours, in what lawyers describe as a deliberate strategy to move people out of state before courts or attorneys can intervene. Multiple cases are highlighted, including a 2-year-old girl detained alongside her father and sent to Texas despite a federal judge ordering her return to Minnesota, and a 5-year-old boy whose health is deteriorating in detention. Attorneys across the state say ICE is systematically denying detainees access to legal counsel, ignoring court orders, and violating the Flores Settlement, which limits how long children can be held in detention. Minnesota's federal courts have been so overwhelmed that four additional judges from neighboring states have been called in to handle the flood of habeas corpus petitions, and a federal judge has ordered the acting ICE director to appear in court to explain why he shouldn't be held in contempt for defying dozens of rulings. Lawyers representing affected families — many of whom had to receive emergency immigration law training — argue that the speed and scale of the operation is intentional, designed to deport as many people as possible before legal challenges can catch up.