Exclusive: US considered charging Minnesota judges, lawyers in immigration crackdown, sources say

FBI eyed judges, defense lawyers over virtual hearings for defendants in country illegally, sources say Status of early-stage probe into judges, defense lawyers remains unclear Virtual hearings common post-COVID, seen as routine by defense attorneys WASHINGTON, July 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department explored bringing criminal charges against Minnesota judges and defense lawyers who discussed requesting virtual court hearings to protect defendants from being arrested by federal immigration officers, according to five people familiar with the matter. In February, FBI agents in Minneapolis opened a preliminary inquiry into whether local judges and defense attorneys obstructed immigration enforcement by requesting virtual hearings, and the concept was also pitched to law enforcement officials in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal Justice Department deliberations. Jumpstart your morning with the latest legal news delivered straight to your inbox from The Daily Docket newsletter. Sign up here. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Report This Ad Reuters could not determine whether the probe is ongoing. To date, no judge or lawyer in Minnesota has been charged over the episode. Two of the people familiar with the discussions said FBI and Justice Department leadership in Washington supported the probe. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. The probe was launched shortly after Emil Bove, the former Acting Deputy Attorney General who has since been nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as an appellate judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, ordered prosecutors in a January 21 memo to pursue potential criminal cases against "state and local actors" for impeding immigration enforcement. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Report This Ad The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to vote on Bove's nomination on Thursday, with Democrats expected to oppose it. The Trump administration has taken aggressive steps against the legal system when its policies have been blocked, lashing out at judges over rulings it disagrees with and seeking to punish law firms and legal organizations that have challenged its policies. "They've been intimidating law firms and lawyers from the beginning," said Bennett Gershman, a former state prosecutor who teaches law at Pace University. "This is just ... part of the campaign to terrorize, intimidate, frighten people from speaking out." EMAIL TRAIL The Minneapolis probe followed comments made in an email chat maintained by Minnesota defense lawyers on February 6 discussing requesting virtual court hearings for defendants who were living in the U.S. illegally to reduce the risk that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would apprehend them at court, the five people told Reuters. 00:06 An $8 billion trial by Meta investors against Zuckerberg kicks off The video player is currently playing an ad. Fox News reported about the existence of the email chat in March, about a month after the Justice Department started its inquiry. The DOJ probe that the chat helped spark has not been previously reported. In the email chain, one defense attorney said judges in the Third Judicial District in Minnesota "proactively" reached out to public defenders and prosecutors to encourage them to request Zoom court hearings on any cases with immigration issues, and that such requests would be granted "liberally," according to an excerpt of the chat verified to Reuters by an attorney who saw the email messages. In late April, the Justice Department charged Hannah Dugan, a local elected judge in Milwaukee, for trying to help a migrant evade immigration authorities when he appeared in her courtroom for a hearing. The indictment also alleges she told the defendant's attorney he could "appear by Zoom" for his future court appearances.