US Department Of Justice Violated More Than 50 NJ Immigration Court Orders, Report Says

An internal investigation into the Department of Justice has revealed that the Trump administration was responsible for dozens of immigration court order violations in New Jersey over the span of two months.

According to the investigation, more than 50 violations were found between Dec. 5, 2025, and Feb. 12, 2026. The review was conducted by Chief of Staff and Associate Deputy Attorney General Jordan Fox, who is in the running to become New Jersey’s newest District Attorney following the removal of Alina Habba.

U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz had Fox conduct the review after Farbiarz discovered one of his orders was not followed in a specific case.

Out of 547 cases in which immigrant detainees legally challenged their incarceration, 52 violations were discovered, as well as four instances of “possible non-compliance” from federal officials. These violations included the missing of deadlines, late releases from custody, and an unlawful deportation, to name a few from the report.

Farbiarz called Fox’s review “careful” and “thorough,” but added that the violations fall “below the relevant standards.”

“Judicial orders should never be violated,” he wrote in a response. “And they very rarely are, especially not by government officials.”

The violations in Fox’s report include:

• 10 instances in which a judge deemed a lack of evidence for detention
• 17 instances of unlawful transfers
• Three instances of alternatives to detention (ATD) without judicial approval
• Three instances of late release of detainees
• Six missed answer deadlines
• 12 missed bond hearing deadlines
• One post-injunction removal in which a detainee was "erroneously" deported to Peru.

According to Fox’s report, an “inadvertent administrative oversight” resulted in someone being deported to Peru. Officials cooperated to facilitate the detainee’s return to the United States, but the detainee decided to stay in Peru.

The New York Times identified the deported as Jorge Moran-Rodriguez. Moran-Rodriguez’s attorney told the NYT that he chose to stay in Peru only to avoid being held in U.S. detention. “It’s not that he didn’t want to come back to the U.S. necessarily,” his attorney said.

“We regret deeply all violations for which our Office is responsible,” Fox said in a letter. “Those violations were unintentional and immediately rectified once we learned of them.”

Farbiarz gave the Justice Department until Wednesday to provide an affidavit outlining procedures that will raise Department standards.

“We will continue to act with the utmost vigilance to prevent, self-report, and ensure compliance with court orders during this unprecedented period of immigration filings in one of the hardest hit districts in the country,” Fox’s letter added.

View Fox's entire declaration here.

Criticism

The revelation has been met with criticism from New Jersey officials and civil rights leaders.

Governor Mikie Sherrill called the violations "entirely unacceptable."

"As a former federal prosecutor in the NJ U.S. Attorney's Office, this is entirely unacceptable," she said. "These violations are hurting families – not making our communities safer."

Additionally, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says that the violations are "shamefully unsurprising."

"This isn’t just inadvertent or sloppy; the Trump administration has repeatedly flouted judicial orders and attacked the integrity of judges," said ACLU-NJ Executive Director Amol Sinha. "It has made it a practice to illegally arrest, detain, and deport people, causing irreversible harm to families and communities. Behind every violation is a person, a family, and a community – children have been left without their parents, and lives have been shattered."