Ice chief summoned

THE chief federal judge in the United States state of Minnesota has said US President Donald Trump’s administration has failed to comply with orders to hold hearings for detained immigrants - and he has ordered the head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to appear before him in court on Friday to explain why he should not be held in contempt.

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Chief Judge Patrick J Schiltz said Todd Lyons, the acting director of Ice, must appear personally in court, after the judge took the Trump administration to task over its handling of bond hearings for immigrants it has detained.

“This Court has been extremely patient with respondents, even though respondents decided to send thousands of agents to Minnesota to detain aliens without making any provision for dealing with the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were sure to result,” the judge wrote.