Another Minnesota federal district judge flouts appeals court ruling. In two habeas corpus cases this week, Judge Donavon Frank (Clinton appointee) has ruled in favor of two illegal alien ICE detainees, in apparent defiance of an 8th circuit court of appeals decision issued on March 25.
Last month, the 8th circuit overruled a different Minnesota-based judge finding that the relevant statute means what it says, “shall be detained.”
Judge Frank’s orders this week in two habeas corpus cases (File Nos. 26-cv-2123 and -2145) are the first to acknowledge the 8th circuit’s ruling. The two unrelated cases involve a Nicaraguan man and a pregnant Honduran woman, respectively.
In his 8-page April 14 opinion in the first case, Judge Frank finds the 8th circuit’s work to be inadequate because it allegedly “did not address the issue of due process” (p. 4). Judge Frank goes on to discover new procedures that are owed to the detainee under “due process.” Judge Frank finds a constitutional flaw overlooked by the appeals court and lawyers and judges involved in the first 2,000 or so habeas corpus cases filed in Minnesota in the past year.
Apparently, the idea here is to buy another six months or so until the 8th circuit can catch up and rule this latest obviously unlawful ploy to be unlawful. Then on to the next gimmick. The results stay the same, but the arguments change constantly.
Too clever by half, Judge Frank did not order the immediate release of the illegal aliens. Instead, he purports to order the Immigration Court to hold bond hearings within a week in each case. In the event that the Immigration Court does not recognize his authority or can’t arrange the hearings in the timeframe allowed, Judge Frank orders that the detainees be released.
What goes unaddressed in Frank’s ruling is what happens if the Immigration Court calls his bluff? Say they have the hearings and continue to detain these two under the 8th circuit authority. What happens then? I guess we’ll find out.
Judge Frank’s colleagues, all Democrat appointees, have taken different approaches. In some instances, detainees have been released after finding technical flaws in the federal government’s voluminous paperwork in each case. A box left unchecked? Release! Documents issued in the incorrect order? Release!
Here are the habeas cases filed in Minnesota since the 8th circuit’s ruling that I have been tracking.
Meanwhile, I have two more Minnesota Men to report on.
Hugo Cardona-Jimenez, age 30, was indicted back in November for illegal re-entry of a previously deported alien. Court records show two previous deportations for Cardona.
For reasons not specified in the record, Cardona was not taken into federal custody until earlier this month. The original incident that sparked federal interest in Cardona appears to have occurred in September, a drunk driving case (.364 BAC) where Cardona was later convicted of a felony, owing to his three previous DWI convictions.
He is due back in federal court on April 29.
Olvin Nahum Leon Molina pled guilty today to destruction of government property.
The incident occurred back in October 2025 when Leon rammed a federal government (ICE) police car (and a parked civilian car) in an effort to evade a traffic stop. An additional criminal count of illegal immigration will be dismissed at his sentencing, under the terms of the plea deal.
Adios, Olvin!
