CNN’s Jake Tapper Calls Out Trump Deportation Force Getting Hammered Mercilessly by Judges

CNN anchor Jake Tapper called out President Donald Trump’s deportation crackdown with a scathing review of federal judges hammering the administration for defying court orders.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ordered the release of 5-year-old Liam Canejo Ramos and his father, Adrián Alexander Conejo Arias, over the weekend in a scathing decision.

On Monday’s edition of CNN’s The Lead, Tapper cited Judge Biery among a flood of Judges accusing the Trump administration of ignoring at least 96 court orders, noting there’s “nothing normal” about that:

JAKE TAPPER: A judge ordered the release of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos. You’ll remember Liam from the striking photo showing him being detained by ICE outside his Minneapolis home last month. Liam and his father spent more than a week inside a Texas detention facility before they released, both are back in Minneapolis now, where Liam has been reunited with his mother and his blue cartoon bunny hat.

We should note that while DHS described Liam’s father as a, quote, illegal alien, their attorneys say that the family entered the United States legally and were in the midst of applying for asylum and communicating with the government.

One thing, especially notable about this case is the scathing rebuke of the Trump administration by the U.S. district judge, in his opinion, ordering Liam’s release. Judge Fred Biery, a Clinton appointee, accused the Trump administration of, quote, traumatizing children, unquote, through what he calls, quote, ill-conceived and incompletely implemented — or, I’m sorry, incompetently implemented daily deportation quotas.

The judge actually calls his opinion a civics lesson at one point. And then there’s this biting line where he says, quote, for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest knows no bounds and are bereft of human decency and the rule of law be damned, unquote. That’s quite an order from a federal judge about the Trump administration.

But Judge Biery is not alone. In fact, in recent weeks, more and more judges are openly scolding the Trump administration for alleged abuses of the constitution and legal system with regard to the government’s deportation efforts, quote, ICE is not a law unto itself, unquote, wrote Minnesota District Court Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz, in an order accusing the organization of violating 96 court orders across 74 cases. The judge writing, quote, this list should give pause to anyone, no matter his or her political beliefs, who cares about the rule of law. ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence, unquote.

Perhaps what’s most notable about that is that Judge Schiltz is a George W. Bush appointee who clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Nor are these rebukes just happening in Minnesota. Judge Mary McElroy, a Trump appointee to the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island, is similarly accusing ICE of defying her orders in January, writing, quote, it seems clear that the court can conclude that the Trump administration willfully violated two of this court’s orders and willfully misrepresented facts to the court, unquote.

There is nothing normal about judges accusing the government of willfully defying court orders in these numbers. So, will any of this give pause to those who claim to care about the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution?

Watch above via CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper.

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