"Tsunami" of immigration detention cases strains U.S. Attorney's offices across America [View all]
Source: CBS News
Updated on: February 5, 2026 / 6:27 PM EST
As immigration sweeps and detentions have expanded in Minnesota and around the country, the work of justifying those detentions is overwhelming federal prosecutors, who are being forced to sideline a range of other criminal and civil cases in order to keep pace.
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota declared in a new brief filed in federal court that his staff faces "an enormous burden" and that a "flood" of immigration cases is negatively affecting his office's work.
"This office has been forced to shift its already limited resources from other pressing and important priorities," wrote U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Daniel Rosen, who was only confirmed to his post last October. "Paralegals are continuously working overtime. Lawyers are continuously working overtime," he wrote. "All this is happening while the MN-USAO Civil division is down 50%."
Minnesota is not alone. The Justice Department is deploying some civil attorneys to assist U.S. Attorney's offices across the nation, after those offices complained they are being crushed by a tidal wave of federal cases filed by immigrants challenging their detention, sources with direct knowledge of the matter tell CBS News.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tsunami-immigration-detention-cases-strains-doj-us-attorneys-offices-across-america/
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