Editor’s Note: This story has been updated for clarity.
On Monday, January 26, Judge Patrick J. Schiltz — a federal judge in Minnesota — chastised the Trump Administration for its handling of immigration cases and ordered Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to appear before him this Friday, January 30. And Schiltz is considering holding Lyons in contempt of court.
Right-wing media figures and supporters of President Donald Trump were quick to attack Schiltz, noting that he is a donor to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota and accusing him of a conflict of interest. But others are countering that the rules allow the judge to make such a donation. And now, Homeland Security official Harmeet K. Dhillon is having a heated debate with Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center over the matter.
Fox News' Bill Melugin, in a January 27 post on X, formerly Twitter, wrote, "@FoxNews has learned that Patrick J. Schiltz, the Minnesota federal judge who is threatening to hold ICE Director Todd Lyons in contempt of court & is ordering him to appear in court on Friday, appears in a 2019 list of donors & volunteers for the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, an organization that provides free legal advice and representation for illegal immigrants. Judge Schiltz was appointed by President Bush in 2006."
But Schiltz, in a statement to Fox News, said, "I have donated for many years to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. I have also donated for many years to Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. I believe that poor people should be able to get legal representation."
In response to Melugin's posts, Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center tweeted, "'A judge may contribute financially to legal service associations that provide counsel for the poor. A judge need not recuse merely because lawyers who accept appointments by such associations are also counsel of record in cases before that judge.' A federal appellate judge informs me that's the official advice to federal judges (set forth in a nonpublic Compendium of Selected Opinions, § 4.2-3(g))."
But Whelan is getting an angry reaction from Department of Homeland Security official Harmeet Dhillon, who is accusing Whelan of twisting the facts.
DHS official Harmeet K. Dhillon tweeted, "So you don't have clients and therefore zero concept of what it means to appear before judges who should have recused due to the appearance of impropriety. This is why you feel comfortable parroting this context free."
Whelan, in response, accused Dhillon of engaging in a "non sequitur" and noted he's "spent the last two decades promoting originalism and textualism."
Defense attorney Andrew Fleischman humorously tweeted a summary of the exchange:
"DOJ: This judge has to recuse himself because he's donated to a legal service association that provides counsel for the poor
Whelan: The rules specifically allow this
DOJ: DO YOU EVEN LAWYER BRO."