A New Jersey federal judge has, for the second time in as many days, expressed strong disapproval of the Trump administration’s actions in a case involving the transfer of an Indian immigrant to another state. The case is documented in court records.

The judge issued a five-page order, following through on a promise to address what she views as misconduct by the U.S. Department of Justice and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In a directive issued on Friday, U.S. District Judge Christine P. O’Hearn, appointed by President Joe Biden, demanded that the government justify why it should not face sanctions for allegedly ignoring previous court orders.

“This matter is before the Court due to previous orders that granted a writ of habeas corpus and called for the immediate release of the petitioner,” wrote the judge. “More specifically, it returns to the Court’s attention because of significant issues with the respondents’ ongoing non-compliance with lawful federal court mandates, both in this situation and others.”

The case revolves around Jagpreet Jagpreet Singh, who was granted release through a habeas corpus petition after demonstrating that his detention was “clearly unlawful from the outset,” as noted in the court’s order from Thursday.

Like many cases of this nature, detailed public information is limited because habeas corpus petitions are often filed under seal.

What is clear is that Singh entered the country through California in January 2024 and was detained by Border Patrol. He has a pending asylum application but was detained by ICE on Valentine’s Day of this year “in New York while he was driving home from work.”

“Following his arrest, Petitioner was detained at Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, New Jersey, without access to counsel or the ability to make a phone call,” O’Hearn recounts.

On Tuesday, Singh’s attorneys filed the petition. Later that same day, the court issued a text order — a short order comparable to a minute order — requiring ICE to keep the man in the Garden State.

On Wednesday, the Trump administration promptly violated the court’s order by sending Singh to a different facility in New York, according to a DOJ filing submitted on Thursday.

O’Hearn refers to that admission as “apparent clear defiance” of the no-transfer order and dings the DOJ because “counsel did not notify the Court until almost six (6) hours” after learning of the transfer.

Now, however, the waters are a bit muddied.

After the judge criticized ICE for violating her no-transfer order and for “repeatedly” violating similar “judicial orders more than fifty (50) times in just the past sixty (60) days,” the DOJ says Singh might not have been transferred to the Empire State after all.

“[W]ithout any explanation, the United States Attorney’s Office now advises the Court in a subsequent letter that, suddenly, ‘ICE informed’ them ‘that it determined that Petitioner has remained at Delaney Hall Detention Facility since the Court’s February 17 order and was never transferred in violation of the Court’s injunction,” the latest order reads.

At this volte-face piece of news, the judge appears to have had enough, saying the Trump administration simply cannot be trusted.

From the Friday order, at length:

[T]he presumption of regularity and integrity previously and routinely afforded to the Executive branch and the United States Attorney’s Office has been undeniably eroded in this jurisdiction and across the country, and this Court will no longer blindly accept statements of fact from Respondents unless they are made under oath by an individual with personal knowledge.

O’Hearn goes on to reference a weeks-old order by a fellow Garden State federal judge, which directed the DOJ to account for how many times similar orders have been violated since December 2025. In that other case, the federal government admitted 56 such violations.

“[T]his Court has good reason to suspect that number is underreported,” the judge opines, noting three separate cases which would likely “fall within” the “time parameters” outlined by the other court. O’Hearn adds: “This only furthers the Court’s concerns as to Respondents’ representations to this Court in this case.”

The upshot of the Friday order is that now the DOJ must fully show its work with regard to Singh’s case on various matters.

The government is now directed to file three affidavits under oath about: (1) Singh’s detention and transfers; (2) the factual basis for the letter saying the no-transfer order had been violated; and (3) the factual basis for the second letter saying the no-transfer order actually had not been violated – all with “relevant documentation.”

The court also, of course, directed the DOJ to “show cause” on the sanctions issue. All those responses are due by Feb. 23.