The Justice Department announced indictments Wednesday against 10 foreign nationals accused of election-related offenses in Minnesota and filed a novel judicial misconduct complaint targeting nearly the state’s entire active federal district court bench, escalating the Trump administration’s quarrels with judges in the state.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said the complaint, filed with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, concerns judges’ interviews with the New York Times about the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations. He accused the judges of discussing pending cases and displaying bias against the Department of Homeland Security, calling for their recusal from civil and criminal cases involving the agency.
Attorney General Todd Blanche, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Wednesday Sept. 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
“The comments are not only political, which is a violation, but concern matters pending before the judges, a separate violation,” Blanche said, adding that judges are beholden to “judicial cannons” that prevent them from publicly opining about litigation pending before their court.
The voting indictments include nine counts of illegal voting by a noncitizen and nine counts of falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to register to vote. The allegations span Minnesota’s 2022 and 2024 general elections and its August 2026 primary. The DOJ displayed several arrest photos of the subjects ahead of the press conference.
Daniel Rosen, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Wednesday Sept. 30, 2026, in Washington, as Attorney General Todd Blanche, left, and Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, look on. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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Daniel Rosen, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Wednesday Sept. 30, 2026, in Washington, as Attorney General Todd Blanche, left, and Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, look on. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
“Voter fraud erodes the public’s trust in our electoral system,” Blanche added.
But the most striking announcement of the day was the judicial complaint, a point Blanche clarified was a “rare” and thoughtful consideration by the department. The complaint centers on a Sept. 17 New York Times article about Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis and the resulting wave of petitions challenging immigrants’ detention.
Blanche said a former chief judge gave a 90-minute interview, and six other judges spoke with the newspaper. The participants included six of the seven judges who held active status as of last winter, he said.
In the interview, Judge Patrick Schiltz, the former chief judge who was also a clerk to former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, accused the administration of disregarding court orders but attributed much of the noncompliance to incompetence rather than deliberate defiance.
“My impression was that most, if not all, of the noncompliance was due to incompetence,” he said, “not due to conscious defiance of orders.”
Another judge questioned whether immigration officers were actually arresting dangerous criminals.
Blanche disputed the public remarks by the jurists and argued that the judges’ comments concerned cases still pending before them or on appeal.
He also accused federal judges in the state of allowing a flood of immigration detention challenges that he said conflicted with Supreme Court precedent, forcing prosecutors to work 16 to 20 hours a day, seven days a week, seemingly referencing a March 8th Circuit reversal in which the majority found federal law required detention without bond for noncitizens, even when arrested inside the country rather than at the border.
Pressed on how judges should voice concerns about the administration’s conduct, Blanche said the issue was their ethical obligations.
“It’s not what I think. It’s not what the Department of Justice thinks. It’s what the judicial canons say they’re allowed to do,” he said.
Asked by the Washington Examiner whether litigation before these judges should be paused in light of the misconduct complaint, Blanche stopped short of announcing a blanket request to halt cases. He said recusal involves a separate body of law, and investigations can take days, weeks, months, or longer.
“We’ve asked them to investigate, and then we will make decisions,” Blanche said, declining to specify prosecutors’ plans for individual cases. “But we’ll handle those internally.”
Blanche said the DOJ has charged more than 90 people with voter-related fraud offenses since President Donald Trump returned to office, including 50 noncitizens in the past five weeks.
The department announced charges against 16 people on Sept. 18, followed by four noncitizens in Pennsylvania on Sept. 24. A Sept. 28 roundup involving 12 people included those same Pennsylvania defendants and a Utah postal carrier accused of discarding approximately 300 mail-in ballots.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said investigators were examining more than 1,600 cases and reviewing another 300,000 possible leads.
“If you voted in our elections and you weren’t legally able to vote, we’re going to find you,” Mullin said.
DC CIRCUIT GRAPPLES WITH ALLOWING BOASBERG TO CONTINUE CONTEMPT INQUIRY
U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen of Minnesota called Wednesday’s indictments “just the tip of the iceberg.”
“If you’re not a citizen, don’t try to vote,” Rosen said. “We will prosecute you.”
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
