Kangaroo Court Report #5 - Just for the sake of objecting

MINNEAPOLIS – While the Department of Homeland Security has been busy punishing Minnesotans for the crime of defending our neighbors, immigration court inside the Bishop Henry Whipple Building has continued to chug along.

However, the executive branch lawyers are clearly less enthusiastic about performing their role in President Donald Trump’s ethnic cleansing program.

The most notable being Julie Le, a government lawyer who recently told a judge that her job “sucks,” and that she wishes she could be held in contempt “so that I can have a full 24 hours of sleep."

PLEASE READ THE IMMIGRATION COURT PRIMER.

On Monday, a person asked Immigration Judge Sarah Mazzie for their immigration case to be closed because they are currently following all of the rules set it place to obtain legal status.

DHS lawyer Derek Ganzhorn objected to the case being closed.

When asked by Mazzie why the government is objecting, Ganzhorn replied, “Just for the sake of objecting.”

Having served as the Wilkin County Attorney since 2024, Ganzhorn appears fairly new to DHS.

His demeanor in court was sullen and he rarely spoke during Monday’s hearings in front of Mazzie.

The cases heard Monday by Mazzie were all for people who had made it through the first hurdle set in place by the government. Meaning, they presented a reason that an immigration judge accepted that might let them stay in the country.

Because of that, no debate about the merits of the case were heard, and all cases were either administratively closed or set for a trial.

Immigration trials can last for hours and involve an immigrant pleading their case to DOJ employees who call themselves judges and dress in robes to look the part.

And those trials are in a backlog.

In one case, Mazzie told a woman that she should “stay in touch with (her) lawyer because (her trial) could be many months or years from now.”

In another, an immigration attorney said there is a 46-month backlog for prima facia hearings.

Prima facia, a latin term meaning “at first sight,” are hearings to determine if there is enough evidence presented in a court case to support the government’s claim.

In this setting, it means people are challenging the executive branch’s evidence to deport them. It’s been one of the few avenues immigrants have had to fight back against the sloppy work of Trump’s federal government.

In another room, one woman failed to show up for her immigration hearing and will self-deport, her lawyer told Immigration Judge Brian Sardelli.

Sardelli ordered the woman to be removed from the country in absentia.

If this had happened in an actual courtroom, a warrant would have been issued for the woman’s arrest with the hopes that she could be detained and brought back to court to answer the accusations against her.

Here, that means once immigration agents get a hold of her, they will put her on a flight to the country she was born in. There’s no need for a trial if the person decides not to show up in immigration court.

Two fake leather chairs in Sardelli’s room had tattered and ripped undersides, as if someone had yanked them open. I’m certain this is a metaphor for something but I’m too tired to put my finger on it.