A contempt-of-court trap has been created by two federal judges issuing conflicting and irreconcilable orders on the same illegal alien on the same day. The executive branch cannot comply with one without automatically violating the other.
The alien in question is one Bryan Alexander Garcia Diaz. Garcia was arrested on Saturday, April 25, in Eden Prairie, and booked into the Hennepin County Jail.
On Sunday, April 26, a habeas corpus petition was filed on his behalf in federal district court in Minnesota (Case No. 26-cv-2366), demanding Garcia’s release. The case was reported on Monday, April 27 and assigned to federal district judge Jerry Blackwell.
On April 27, Judge Blackwell issued an order that Garcia not be moved out of state and required a response from government lawyers to Garcia’s habeas petition by Wednesday, April 29.
Meanwhile, Garcia himself appeared in federal court in downtown Minneapolis on Monday afternoon on a criminal matter (Case No. 26-mj-410). There is a federal judicial arrest warrant out on Garica from the federal district of western Texas (Case No. 25-m-1077) for illegal immigration (yes, that is a federal crime).
The arrest warrant was issued in Texas on March 14, 2025 (Document #2 in File 1077). Garcia was charged in a criminal complaint (Doc. #1) with illegally crossing of the U.S.-Mexico border on Halloween, 2022.
On April 27, Magistrate Judge David T. Schultz issued an Order of Removal (Doc. #5 in File 410) on Garcia, sending him back to Texas.
So, what happens on Thursday? Government lawyers have to report something to Judge Blackwell. If they report that they have complied with the judicial arrest warrant and judicial removal orders for Garcia, Blackwell will find them in contempt of his court for violating his nonremoval order and order them (not Garcia) imprisoned.
If the lawyers report that Garcia is still in Minnesota, then they will have violated Magistrate Judge Schultz’s removal order and the arrest warrant from the federal judge down in Texas. Garcia is due to face justice in Texas. But he can’t do that if he remains in Minnesota.
It’s a trap. So far, despite disproven claims to the contrary, not a single habeas court order out of 1,200 cases has been disobeyed by the executive branch. Until now.
Garcia cannot be both in Minnesota and in Texas at the exact same time.
Heads I win, tails you lose.
