Justice Department struggles under weight of immigration crackdown

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. When a lawyer representing the Justice Department told a judge in open court this week that she was exhausted and “this job sucks," she said out loud what many federal prosecutors have been privately feeling for months. The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown—and the push to arrest many of the demonstrators protesting against it—is straining U.S.

attorneys offices across the country. Already overworked, government lawyers in cities that have seen unrest, including Minneapolis, Chicago and Los Angeles, have been rocked by departures, crippling caseloads and directives from Washington that have made them uncomfortable. Justice Department officials have repeatedly sought reinforcements from other cities and government agencies, even temporarily assigning military lawyers to help deal with the crush.

Department lawyers in several offices told The Wall Street Journal they empathized with Julie Le, a Department of Homeland Security attorney who was detailed to the U.S. attorney’s office in Minneapolis to bolster staffing. They said her remarks during a Tuesday court hearing described a working environment with which they have become familiar.

“When you show up, they just throw you in the well and then here we go," Le told the judge, adding that she had stayed awake until 2:35 a.m. that day preparing. She said she had “stupidly" volunteered for the Justice Department role and had been given no direction since starting last month.

Le was on loan from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help the Minneapolis U.S. attorney’s office wade through a deluge of cases brought by immigrants challenging the legality of their detentions. The office has been overwhelmed by more than 500 such