A U.S. District Judge in Minnesota has found a Department of Justice special assistant U.S. attorney in civil contempt and ordered him to pay a coercive fine of $500 per day — starting Friday — until an immigrant unlawfully detained by ICE has all his identification documents returned, according to the case docket.
U.S. District Judge Laura M. Provinzino issued the contempt finding against Matthew Isihara during a Wednesday afternoon hearing after determining he failed to comply with her February 9 order compelling the immediate release of Mexican citizen Rigoberto Soto Jimenez in Minnesota and the return of all his property, including ID documents.
The February order granted Soto Jimenez’s habeas petition after the government failed to respond or justify his detention without a warrant. Judge Provinzino emphasized that each day of non-response constituted continued unlawful detention.
Soto Jimenez, who lives in Minnesota with his lawful permanent resident spouse, had been held in an ICE detention center in El Paso, Texas. He was eventually released and returned to Minnesota but remained without his identification documents as of the contempt hearing, per reports citing the hearing transcript obtained by CBS News.
Isihara, who recently transitioned from U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps (Captain at Fort Drum, NY; University of Georgia Law 2020 grad), admitted responsibility at the hearing. “To be candid, the ball was dropped … on my part,” he told Judge Provinzino, attributing the delay to an understaffed and overburdened office.
The judge’s earlier order to show cause had demanded the government explain its failures to: release Soto Jimenez in Minnesota, return his property, and file timely status updates. Much of the case docket remains under seal, including a Thursday government status report.
This contempt sanction arrives amid heightened scrutiny of immigration enforcement in the District of Minnesota. Since the Trump administration’s operations intensified, at least 14 attorneys (half the office) have resigned from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In late January, Chief Judge admonished ICE for violating nearly 100 court orders related to these operations.
The incident echoes a recent hearing where another special assistant U.S. attorney, Julie Le (temporarily detailed from DHS), told a Minneapolis federal judge she had been “working around the clock” on compliance but lamented, “The system sucks. This job sucks,” and joked about wanting to be held in contempt for sleep. Le was removed from her detail shortly after.
Soto Jimenez is represented by Erin Lins of Zimmer Law Group LLC. The government is represented by David W. Fuller and Matthew Isihara of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota.
The judge directed the government to file a certification of compliance once Soto Jimenez receives his documents; the daily $500 fine continues until that filing occurs. Neither Isihara, the DOJ, nor counsel for Soto Jimenez immediately responded to comment requests Thursday. The Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office currently lacks a public information officer.
This rare personal contempt finding against a DOJ attorney underscores mounting judicial frustration with perceived non-compliance in immigration detention cases and could signal tougher accountability measures for government lawyers in similar disputes.
