‘Chaos, unimaginable’: Ex-ICE attorney describes former job, pivot to politics

ICE attorney out after 'this job sucks' comment

Two attorneys will no longer be working for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota after acknowledging in court this week that the federal government is "overwhelmed" by litigation coming out of Operation Metro Surge.

(FOX 9) - It’s been one month since Julie Le was removed from her job as an attorney for ICE after she told U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell the system and her job "sucks" when he questioned her about the agency’s repeated violations of court orders.

Working against challenges

Quickly growing caseload:

Le started working as an attorney for ICE in April 2025. Just ten months later, in February 2026, she was removed from the job for telling Judge Blackwell "this system sucks. The job sucks."

Le said her response was truthful.

"Because that's true. We were working with the system at that time. It's just not working. We couldn't get ICE or CBP to comply with the court order. It doesn't matter how hard we try, how many times we reach out. There's always hiccups to get the case done, complete and wrapped up, and move on. Sometimes I felt like I was helpless. But at the same time, the main key for me was just to process the court order, get the people out," she said.

In just one month, she said she volunteered to come to the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) from ICE to help work on cases, and her workload alone blew up.

"According to the data that was provided in the office for the entire year, prior year, they have about 70-something cases for the entire year. During that one month that I was with the DOJ, my name alone was attached to at least 88 cases," Le said.

Dig deeper:

Le said the spike in cases, in her opinion, was absolutely tied to Operation Metro Surge. She said attorneys in the USAO were working long hours, and they did the best they could to process each case in a timely manner. Eventually, the work environment became "chaos", "exhausted" and "unimaginable."

"I used to think that in order to get a job at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, you have to be all the way up here, very high standard, top-notch attorney. But the office environment that I was in, yes, they are top-notch attorneys, but the morale was just so down," she explained.

When FOX 9 asked Le why she didn’t quit her job, given the conditions, she said she couldn’t because she still wanted to help people.

"I did ask to be sent back to ICE because at ICE, at least I have my full hours to sleep at night. At ICE, I can have my weekend and I don't have to be so overworked. However, just as an individual who knows that you have the ability to get people out, that stopped me. Because if I was to quit, then who's going to help the people on this side? It's not helping. It's just getting things done the right way. That's how we're supposed to do it, and it's hard to find someone who works as hard at that as I did during the time that I was there," Le said.

Moving forward

No regrets:

After Le’s comments to Judge Blackwell last month, Homeland Security officials called her comments "unprofessional" and "unbecoming."

But, Le said she doesn’t regret what she said.

"No, I don't. I am still a human, right? In court, I have the duty to answer truthfully to the judge, to the court and when I was questioned about my work ethic, that’s related to my integrity of intentionally violating these orders. That's when I wanted the judge to understand, I did not. Not intentionally. I will never have any of that intention in my mind as an attorney. I did my best, and I showed him the proof of how much work I did for each of the cases. So, it is what it is, whether you like it or you don't like it, but that's the truth," she said.

Pivot to politics

What's next:

One month after leaving her government attorney job, Le is pivoting to politics. She is running for the 5th Congressional District seat as a Democrat, challenging fellow Democrat Representative Ilhan Omar.

Le, a Vietnamese immigrant and mother of three, has no political experience, but believes her legal background proves she can work with both sides of the aisle. She considers herself more moderate than Congresswoman Omar.

"The only thing I can promise is that I’m going to give it my best. 100%," she said. "I will be able to work with the opposing side, the other side, to figure out what would be the best for the majority of the people."

Le is officially launching her campaign on Saturday, March 14 in Brookly Park at Northwoods Park. The event is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and will open to the public.