'The judge lost' it: NYC lawyer says courts are 'over' Trump’s Justice Department

Lawyer Michael Foote of the Department of Redundancy Department Instagram account. (Photo: Screen capture)
January 11, 2026 | 11:51AM ETMSN
A New York lawyer facing off against President Donald Trump's administration revealed that a judge he appeared before was not happy with the Justice Department's lawyers.
In a video he posted to Instagram, Michael Foote said, "Even the judges are over ICE right now."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are spread out across the U.S. as part of an operation to remove immigrants and children born to immigrants.
"They were not having any of ICE's bulls—— in court this morning," Foote said. "Every one of my objections: sustained. Every time I subjected, overruled. All of my stipulations were accepted into the record. No questions asked."
He went on to say that the judge took his word for it that his expert witness was legitimate.
The Department of Homeland Security "took like ten minutes to find my client in detention. The judge lost his s——!"
He added that it doesn't make up for what's happening across the country, but "let this be a little bright spot in your day that the judiciary is over DHS's bulls——."
New York Magazine's "The Cut" did a piece on Foote's work and his work as a "fierce public advocate, hot-take wellspring and gay chaos agent."
Foote has been the one on the scene in court to fight back against any illegal operations ICE attempts in court.
"They’re doing what they’re doing, denying people basic due process, because they can’t win against people like me,” Foote told The Cut last July.