A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attorney who told a judge that her job “sucks” has been removed from her post.
The now-removed attorney, Julie Le, was called to testify this Tuesday in a district court in Minnesota about why the Trump administration wasn’t responding to judicial orders concerning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to ABC News.
“What do you want me to do? The system sucks,” Le told Judge Jerry Blackwell. “This job sucks. And I am trying [with] every breath that I have so that I can get you what you need.”
SHOCKING FEDERAL COURT MOMENT: DOJ attorney Julie Le, “The system sucks, this job sucks” to Judge Jerry Blackwell who pressed her on why so many court orders are being ignored by ICE/Trump admin. She asked to be held in contempt just so she could get 24 hours of sleep. @FOX9
— Paul Blume (@PaulBlume_FOX9) February 3, 2026
Blackwell was reportedly upset that the Trump administration had been ignoring court decrees ordering DHS to release certain detained alleged illegal aliens.
“The overwhelming majority of the hundreds [of individuals] seen by this court have been found to be lawfully present as of now in the country,” he insisted in court.
“In some instances, it is the continued detention of a person the Constitution does not permit the government to hold, and who should have been left alone, that is, not arrested in the first place,” he added.
Blackwell also dismissed the fact that Le had been assigned to 91 immigration cases in just the span of a month.
“The volume of cases and matters is not a justification for diluting constitutional rights, and it never can be,” he stressed. “It heightens the need for care. Having what you feel are too many detainees, too many cases, too many deadlines, and not enough infrastructure to keep up with it all is not a defense to continued detention. If anything, it ought to be a warning sign.”
Later during Tuesday’s hearing, Blackwell asked Le why the Trump administration shouldn’t be held in contempt of court for violating court orders.
“Sometimes I wish you would just hold me in contempt, Your Honor, so that I can have a full 24 hours of sleep,” she replied. “I work day and night just because people are still in there.”
Le also admitted to the judge that she’d previously submitted her resignation, only to be told it wasn’t possible.
“They couldn’t find a replacement,” she said. “So I gave them a specific time … to get it done. If they don’t, then by all means, I’m going to walk out.”
But it appears there will be no need for that.
NBC News confirmed on Wednesday that Le “is no longer detailed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota.”
In a statement to ABC News, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin noted that Le had been “a probationary attorney.”
“This conduct is unprofessional and unbecoming of an ICE attorney in abandoning her obligation to act with commitment, dedication, and zeal to the interests of the United States Government,” McLaughlin added.
In a separate statement to Politico, McLaughlin denied Le’s allegation that attorneys like her are being overworked.
“The Trump administration is more than prepared to handle the legal caseload necessary to deliver President Trump’s deportation agenda for the American people,” she said.
“It should come as no surprise that more habeas petitions are being filed by illegal aliens — especially after many activist judges have attempted to thwart President Trump from fulfilling the American people’s mandate for mass deportations,” she added.
However, the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office has publicly acknowledged the strain it’s facing.
Now 14 at the U.S. Attorney’s Office have resigned in Minnesota, asked to “violate personal ethics” as the office is overwhelmed with ICE detention cases, unable to charge fraud, and redirected on Renee Good ICE shooting investigation. pic.twitter.com/AS8dubfI6O
— Lou Raguse (@LouNewsMan) February 3, 2026
“The Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in this district has been utterly overwhelmed by the number of recent habeas petitions in Minnesota, during a time when the Office is short-staffed,” prosecutors told U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson after they missed a court-ordered deadline earlier this week.
