A federal judge sanctioned a Trump administration lawyer on Wednesday for repeatedly blowing off court orders in immigration detention cases, including failing to release a man the court had already ordered freed.
Chief U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley of the Eastern District of California slapped DOJ attorney Jonathan Yu with a $250 fine after Yu missed multiple deadlines in a habeas corpus case involving an immigrant detained at the California City Correctional Center.
The court had ordered the detainee's immediate release on April 3. Yu failed to file a required compliance notice by April 6. When the judge issued a show-cause order asking why Yu shouldn't be sanctioned, Yu missed that deadline too, in the same case.
Making matters worse, the freed detainee was stranded in Bakersfield without his identification documents, unable to travel home to Utah, and at risk of being re-arrested by DHS. The court ordered Yu to return the man's passport and driver's license and file a status update by April 10. Yu missed that deadline as well.
Yu said he was been assigned over 300 immigration habeas cases in three months and was overwhelmed. But the judge wasn't buying it.
"The Court does not take such failures lightly. Compliance with court orders is not optional; it is a fundamental obligation of any attorney appearing before this Court. Respondents’ counsel’s conduct reflects a pattern of disregard for that obligation. Indeed, this is not an isolated incident. Respondents’ counsel does not contend he could not comply with the Court’s order but rather, that he had higher priorities," the judge wrote.
"Thus, Respondents’ counsel’s noncompliance in this matter, and in others, demonstrates an unwillingness — not an inability — to adhere to basic procedural requirements," the judge added. "While the Court recognizes that mistakes can occur, repeated violations of court orders cannot be excused as mere oversight."