Six US attorneys warned a “flood” of litigation by migrants challenging their detention has created a “substantial drain on the resources” of their offices in declarations filed in December with the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
In all, the US attorneys for the four districts encompassing all of Texas and parts of two other states said they had been forced to divert federal prosecutors who usually focus on criminal cases to assist attorneys in their civil divisions overwhelmed with 534 habeas petitions between July and December, including 180 in the Southern District of Texas alone.
The Dec. 3 filings obtained by Bloomberg Law demonstrate earlier stages of a Justice Department workload crisis that’s significantly worsened in the following two months, spilling into public view in Minnesota this week while also hitting districts from California to Massachusetts.
The six chief prosecutors’ frustrations were reinforced by Minneapolis-based US attorney Daniel Rosen, who told a court he was forced to shift resources from law enforcement priorities in a declaration Politico reported earlier Thursday.
“Despite the support we have committed to this issue and despite working around the clock, our AUSAs and support staff still feel behind,” Justin Simmons, the top federal prosecutor for the Western District of Texas, said in his declaration.
Simmons, who was appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, went on to predict that the volume of petitions would increase as the Christmas holiday season approached. Indeed, habeas claims in his San Antonio-based district soared—from 91 in November to more than 300 in December before surpassing 900 in January, according to habeasdockets.org, a website that tracks cases.
Immigration habeas petitions made up more than 75% of all new civil cases filed in January in the Western District of Texas, according to a Jan. 30 filing from the US attorney’s office obtained by Bloomberg Law. That’s a major shift for the district, where immigration habeas cases were less than 3% of all new civil cases in all of 2024, according to the filing.
“This issue has produced a tsunami of new habeas litigation around this issue that severely strained the resources of U.S. Attorney offices and the district courts in this Circuit,” the filing said.
The declarations were aimed at convincing the Fifth Circuit to reconsider its decision to deny a motion to expedite one detainee’s case. But they provide Trump appointees’ most detailed disclosures of the impact of the administration’s reinterpretation of immigration law, under which huge numbers of immigrant detainees have been denied a chance to argue for their release in immigration court.
The resulting surge in habeas petitions has strained DOJ lawyers nationwide, prompting a courtroom outburst Feb. 3 by a DHS lawyer detailed to the US attorney’s office in Minnesota who complained about being untrained to handle the cases and overwhelmed by the volume.
The Justice Department quickly cut short Julie Le’s detail after she said in court, “the system sucks, this job sucks.”
Prosecutor Bonuses
The December declarations by Trump appointees and details shared by people familiar with the situation in other districts suggest Le is far from alone in US attorneys offices struggling to deal with the habeas caseload.
The US attorney’s office in San Diego has shifted lawyers in response to the surge in habeas cases, including by offering bonuses late last year to prosecutors in the office’s criminal section to work on the civil side, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Some assistant US attorneys newly hired in the office’s criminal section were quickly diverted to work on the civil immigration cases, according to the person, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. The effects have hit other parts of the San Diego office, the person said, forcing more experienced prosecutors in the national security section and other components to handle magistrate calendar hearings in the Southern District of California—work typically reserved for more junior federal prosecutors.
A representative for the office declined to comment.
In Massachusetts, where more than 200 habeas petitions were filed in January, federal prosecutors have been vocal in court about the increased workload, one Boston immigration attorney said.
Lawyers in the Massachusetts federal prosecutor’s office have told judges in hearings that the surge in immigration cases and limited number of attorneys available means they’re unable to keep up with briefing deadlines, the immigration attorney said.
Forcing criminal prosecutors into unfamiliar civil immigration proceedings “would take quite a bit of time to implement,” said Katherine Parker, an associate professor at University of San Diego School of Law.
Parker, who until last year was the civil chief overseeing immigration habeas cases at the San Diego US attorney’s office, said it’s a niche and complex practice area typically staffed by specialists.
Prosecutor Shortage
In multiple districts, the wave of petitions has only grown over the past two months.
In the Southern District of Texas, for example, the office “has been forced to shift its already limited resources from other pressing important priorities, including resources from our Appellate Division and Asset Forfeiture Section,” and was “unable to handle certain bankruptcy” cases, US Attorney Nicholas Ganjei, who’s since been confirmed as a federal judge, said in his declaration.
Zachary Keller, the chief prosecutor in the Western District of Louisiana, said his office’s civil division staffers are working overtime hours, most of which are spent on emergency habeas cases that redirect personnel from civil defensive cases and financial litigation.
In Minnesota, the habeas staffing challenge in is exacerbated by the wave of prosecutors resigning over objections to Trump administration investigative priorities. The office has begun relying on military lawyers to handle some of its cases.
The staffing strain may spread as the White House signals plans to expand law enforcement surges to other metropolitan areas with dense immigrant populations.
“If they’re having a hard time staffing Minnesota, and they try this in other jurisdictions, where are the prosecutors going to come from?” said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles.
“There seems to be an enormous disconnect between what the people in Washington are ordering to happen and realistically what can happen,” said Levenson, who noted her surprise that the administration “didn’t realize that if they do these big raids, that they have to have somebody in court to handle these matters.”
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