Kelley filed an emergency petition asking for Tipan Echeverria and his daughter’s release around 5:37 p.m. Thursday, less than five hours after they were taken into ICE custody, the affidavit states. About 40 minutes later, she filed a motion asking a judge to stop the transfer of Tipan Echeverria outside Minnesota and to order the release of the child.
Over the next several hours, Kelley placed numerous calls to ICE counsel to bring their attention to the filings, but said she did not receive a response.
At 8:11 p.m. on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Kathy Menendez enjoined ICE from removing the father and child from Minnesota. She also issued an order to release the child to the family’s attorney no later than 9:30 p.m., citing “irreparable harm” of keeping her in custody, the affidavit states.
ICE informed the court after the fact that Tipan Echeverria and his daughter had been placed on a commercial flight to Texas at 8:30 p.m.
Bold to test a judge’s willingness to apply sanctions.
While I don’t necessarily disagree with you, the argument is nuanced; fundamentally it comes down to the fact that if our system of government has failed to the point where executives in power can flagrantly violate the law without consequence, the idea of a self-governed democratic republic has failed.
In the case mentioned above wherein each branch maintains its own enforcement agency, a realistic scenario would likely be an inter-governmental arms race, siphoning funds from the budget to ensure no single branch or agency amasses the power necessary to seize control.
Maybe the answer is an independent, apolitical branch of government charged with law enforcement. I can think of many reasons for not going down this road, however.