Updated on: February 5, 2026 / 6:27 PM EST
/ CBS News
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.
The cases, known as "habeas corpus petitions," started spiking in September after a Justice Department-run immigration court made a sweeping determination that the government could essentially detain a large swath of immigrants indefinitely while their removal proceedings are pending.Â
In response, immigration lawyers have flooded federal courts with requests for their clients to be released while they petition immigration judges for a bond hearing. In most cases, the government has been losing. By one count, the number of decisions that have been adverse to the Justice Department have skyrocketed – from nearly 100 in September to more than 600 by December, one source told CBS News.
The influx of cases is putting a major strain on U.S. Attorney's offices, many of which experienced a mass exodus over the past year and are still struggling to hire qualified replacements. In some offices with smaller numbers of civil litigators, prosecutors who normally handle criminal cases are being asked to take on some of the burden, sources say.
"We never thought it would be a tsunami," one official told CBS News, speaking anonymously in order to discuss internal Justice Department matters. Assistant U.S. attorneys who handle civil litigation "are exasperated," another official said.
Justin Simmons, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, made an urgent request last month to senior leaders in the Justice Department's Civil Division, saying the burden is unsustainable, one person familiar with the matter said.Â
In his request, Justin Simmons asked the department to temporarily deploy between five and 10 lawyers from the Civil Division's Office of Immigration Litigation, an office that has already lost a huge number of attorneys. A spokesman for Simmons' office declined to comment.
Shortly after that, the Executive Office for United States Attorneys sent a note to the civil chiefs of all 93 U.S. Attorney's offices, asking them to provide data about the total number of pending immigration habeas cases as of January 26, 2026, according to another source. The note also asked for the total number of civil assistant U.S. attorneys since the beginning of fiscal year 2025 and how many are on board as of January 2026.
The offices facing the biggest burden are those whose districts are home to immigration detention facilities, sources said.
A Justice Department spokesperson told CBS News the administration is "complying with court orders and fully enforcing federal immigration law."
If rogue judges followed the law in adjudicating cases and respected the Government's obligation to properly prepare cases, there wouldn't be an 'overwhelming' habeas caseload or concern over DHS following orders," the spokesperson said. "The level of illegal aliens currently detained is a direct result of this Administration's strong border security policies to keep the American people safe."
Rosen said the "enormous burden" of immigration petitions in Minnesota coincided with government cuts, and then a wave of resignations that drained his office of experienced attorneys after two people were shot and killed by federal agents as part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in the state.
The departures left the already-diminished office with as few as 17 assistant U.S. attorneys, according to sources inside the office — down from 70 during the Biden administration.Â
At the same time, nearly 430 petitions were filed related to immigration arrests in January, according to court documents, in addition to more than 100 filed at the end of 2025. Immigration advocates and nonprofits have filed the motions on behalf of those detained by Immigration and Cus
/ CBS News
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.
The cases, known as "habeas corpus petitions," started spiking in September after a Justice Department-run immigration court made a sweeping determination that the government could essentially detain a large swath of immigrants indefinitely while their removal proceedings are pending.Â
In response, immigration lawyers have flooded federal courts with requests for their clients to be released while they petition immigration judges for a bond hearing. In most cases, the government has been losing. By one count, the number of decisions that have been adverse to the Justice Department have skyrocketed – from nearly 100 in September to more than 600 by December, one source told CBS News.
The influx of cases is putting a major strain on U.S. Attorney's offices, many of which experienced a mass exodus over the past year and are still struggling to hire qualified replacements. In some offices with smaller numbers of civil litigators, prosecutors who normally handle criminal cases are being asked to take on some of the burden, sources say.
"We never thought it would be a tsunami," one official told CBS News, speaking anonymously in order to discuss internal Justice Department matters. Assistant U.S. attorneys who handle civil litigation "are exasperated," another official said.
Justin Simmons, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, made an urgent request last month to senior leaders in the Justice Department's Civil Division, saying the burden is unsustainable, one person familiar with the matter said.Â
In his request, Justin Simmons asked the department to temporarily deploy between five and 10 lawyers from the Civil Division's Office of Immigration Litigation, an office that has already lost a huge number of attorneys. A spokesman for Simmons' office declined to comment.
Shortly after that, the Executive Office for United States Attorneys sent a note to the civil chiefs of all 93 U.S. Attorney's offices, asking them to provide data about the total number of pending immigration habeas cases as of January 26, 2026, according to another source. The note also asked for the total number of civil assistant U.S. attorneys since the beginning of fiscal year 2025 and how many are on board as of January 2026.
The offices facing the biggest burden are those whose districts are home to immigration detention facilities, sources said.
A Justice Department spokesperson told CBS News the administration is "complying with court orders and fully enforcing federal immigration law."
If rogue judges followed the law in adjudicating cases and respected the Government's obligation to properly prepare cases, there wouldn't be an 'overwhelming' habeas caseload or concern over DHS following orders," the spokesperson said. "The level of illegal aliens currently detained is a direct result of this Administration's strong border security policies to keep the American people safe."
Rosen said the "enormous burden" of immigration petitions in Minnesota coincided with government cuts, and then a wave of resignations that drained his office of experienced attorneys after two people were shot and killed by federal agents as part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in the state.
The departures left the already-diminished office with as few as 17 assistant U.S. attorneys, according to sources inside the office — down from 70 during the Biden administration.Â
At the same time, nearly 430 petitions were filed related to immigration arrests in January, according to court documents, in addition to more than 100 filed at the end of 2025. Immigration advocates and nonprofits have filed the motions on behalf of those detained by Immigration and Cus