Since Operation Metro Surge began in December, federal immigration agents have arrested nearly 4,000 people, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The result is a flood of cases filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota on behalf of people challenging detention by federal immigration enforcement agents. According to WIRED’s review of court records and official judicial statistics, lawyers filed almost as many so-called habeas corpus petitions in Minnesota alone as in the entire US during the entire year.
The bombardment of cases filed in federal court in Minnesota and other states is the result of two policies of the Trump administration: a dramatic increase in the number of people detained, and the elimination of a key legal mechanism to secure their release. The result is that the American court system has collapsed: Judges, immigration lawyers, and federal prosecutors are all overwhelmed, while the people at the center of these cases remain behind bars, often in states thousands of miles away from home – sometimes even after judges have ordered their release.
“I never said these words habeas corpus This has happened many times in my life, says Graham Ojala-Barbour, a Minnesota immigration attorney who has been practicing for more than a decade. Ojala-Barber says that when he goes to sleep, he dreams about the habeas petitions.
Fatigue is endemic. On February 3, Julie Ley, a former special assistant US attorney, urged a US judge in Minnesota to hold him in contempt so he can finally rest. According to data obtained through US court records database PACER, he was listed in 88 cases. Daniel Rosen, the U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota and head of Lay’s office, previously told that judge in a letter that they were “struggling to keep up with the overwhelming volume” of petitions and had let at least one court order demanding the petitioner’s return lapse. Le did not respond to a request for comment. In response to a request for comment, the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office sent an automated reply stating that they currently lack a public information officer.
Le was reportedly fired after a February hearing, where he told the judge, “This job sucks.”
In response to a request for comment, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said, “The Trump Administration stands ready to handle the legal caseload necessary to carry out President Trump’s deportation agenda for the American people.”
As daunting as the workload may be for U.S. attorneys, the situation is much more dire for people detained by immigration authorities. In court filings, detainees describe being packed into cells that were so packed they couldn’t even sit up before being sent to detention centers in Texas. One described sharing a cell with people who were sick with Covid. Others said agents repeatedly pressured them and other detainees to self-deport.
“All detainees are provided proper food, water, medical treatment, and have the opportunity to communicate with their family members and attorneys. All detainees receive full due process,” McLaughlin told WIRED.
Anna Voss, The civil division chief of the Minnesota US Attorney’s Office has been listed as one of the attorneys defending the government in nearly all habeas petition cases filed in Minnesota since Operation Metro Surge began. Before December, most of the cases involving Voss were related to other issues, such as Social Security and disability lawsuits. Since then, habeas petitions for immigrant detainees have dramatically outpaced all other cases.
In January, 584 of the 618 cases filed in Minnesota district court, which involved Voss as an attending attorney, were classified as habeas petitions for detainees, according to a WIRED review of PACER data. This is likely an undercount due to incorrect “nature of the suit” label. Voss is no longer with the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office, according to an automated reply from a Justice Department email address.
The number of habeas petitions filed in other parts of the country has also increased. For example, at least 774 petitions were filed in the Western District Court of Texas in the month of January, according to data collected by Habeas Dockets. In the Middle District of Georgia, 186 petitions were filed that same month. ProPublica reported that more than 18,000 habeas cases have been reported across the country since January 2025.
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