DOJ tries to bar Minnesota judges from cases after immigration comments

The Justice Department is seeking to remove two federal judges in Minnesota from separate immigration-related cases, arguing that comments they made to the New York Times about immigration enforcement raise questions about their impartiality.

Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodard, the department’s third-ranking official, filed motions Tuesday targeting U.S. District Judges Patrick Schiltz and John Tunheim. The cases involve the Trump administration’s effort to strip a Minnesota man of his U.S. citizenship and the prosecution of a South African woman accused of voting illegally in the 2024 election.