Authorities release man whose case led judge to order ICE leader to appear in court, lawyer says

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal immigration authorities have released an Ecuadorian man whose detention led the chief federal judge in Minnesota to order the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appear in his courtroom, the man's attorney said Tuesday.

Attorney Graham Ojala-Barbour said the man, who is identified in court documents as “Juan T.R.,” was released in Texas. The lawyer said in an email to The Associated Press that he was notified in an email from the U.S. attorneys office in Minneapolis shortly after 1 p.m. CT that his client had been freed.

In an order dated Monday, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz expressed frustration with the Trump administration’s handling of Juan’s and other immigration cases. He took the extraordinary step of ordering Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, to personally appear in his courtroom Friday.

Schiltz had said in his order that he would cancel Lyons’ appearance if the man was released from custody.

“This Court has been extremely patient with respondents, even though respondents decided to send thousands of agents to Minnesota to detain aliens without making any provision for dealing with the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were sure to result,” he wrote.

The order comes a day after President Donald Trump ordered border czar Tom Homan to take over his administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota following the second death this month of a person at the hands of an immigration law enforcement officer.

Trump said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that he had “great calls” with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Monday, mirroring comments he made immediately after the calls.

As he left the White House, the president was asked whether Alex Pretti’s killing by a Border Patrol officer Saturday was justified. He responded by saying that a “big investigation” was underway. In the hours after Pretti's death, some administration officials sought to blame the shooting on the 37-year-old intensive care nurse.

The seemingly softer tone emerged as immigration agents were still active across the Twin Cities region, and it was unclear if officials had changed tactics following the shift by the White House.

Walz's office said Tuesday that the Democratic governor met with Homan and called for impartial investigations into the shootings involving federal officers. They agreed on the need to continue to talk, according to the governor.

Frey and Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said they also met with Homan and had a “productive conversation.” The mayor added that city leaders would stay in discussion with the border czar.

The White House had tried to blame Democratic leaders for the protests of immigration raids. But after the killing of Pretti on Saturday and videos suggesting he was not an active threat, the administration tapped Homan to take charge of the Minnesota operation from Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino.

The streets appeared largely quiet in many south Minneapolis neighborhoods where unmarked convoys of immigration agents have been sighted regularly in recent weeks, including the neighborhoods where the two deaths occurred. But Associated Press staff saw carloads of agents in northeast Minneapolis, as well as the northern suburb of Little Canada.

Schiltz's order also follows a federal court hearing Monday on a request by the state and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul for a judge to halt the immigration enforcement surge. The judge in that case said she would prioritize the ruling but did not give a timeline for a decision.

Schiltz wrote that he recognizes ordering the head of a federal agency to appear personally is extraordinary. “But the extent of ICE’s violation of court orders is likewise extraordinary, and lesser measures have been tried and failed,” he said.

“Respondents have continually assured the Court that they recognize their obligation to comply with Court orders, and that they have taken steps to ensure that those orders will be honored going forward,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, though, the violations continue.”

The Associated Press left messages Tuesday with ICE and a DHS spokesperson seeking a response.

Catalini reported from Trenton, New Jersey. Associated Press writer Tim Sullivan in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

People visit a memorial for Alex Pretti at the scene where the 37-year-old was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol officer over the weekend, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A drawing of Alex Pretti is displayed at the scene where 37-year-old Pretti was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol officer over the weekend, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A man in handcuffs gets out of a vehicle and runs to avoid being detailed by federal immigration agents in front of a woman holding her child on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

A man in handcuffs runs to avoid being detailed by federal immigration agents on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

FILE - Todd Lyons, acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs. Enforcement (ICE), is interviewed on TV on the White House grounds, Monday, Nov. 3, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

A demonstrator holds a sign reading "ICE OUT" during a protest outside the office of Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

A person holds a sign of Alex Pretti during a protest outside the office of Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

KENNESAW, Ga. (AP) — As a deadly storm that brought crippling ice to the South and deep snow to the Northeast finally swirled out to sea, it represented a light at the end of the tunnel for some.

However, roughly half a million homes and businesses were still without power or heat, and temperatures were forecast to fall well below freezing Tuesday evening in areas where the massive ice storm did its worst damage.

More than 110,000 customers had no electricity in the Nashville, Tennessee, area, according to poweroutage.com. More than 130,000 remained without power in hard-hit Mississippi, and about 90,000 more in icy Louisiana in what is likely to be a costly storm for the nation.

After a sleepless night listening to falling trees and branches in Iuka, Mississippi, Adrian Ronca-Hohn said he awoke Monday to what looked “like a war zone.”

“We couldn’t go 10 seconds without hearing what sounded like a gunshot," the 23-year-old football coach said.

Southern homes typically aren't built for Northern winters, and many southerners are unaccustomed to the risks of winter weather.

“We have a lot of people without heat, without power and without water," Ronca-Hohn said. "We have a lot of mobile homes down here that aren’t very well-insulated."

Here's a look at the storm by the numbers.

Thickness of ice (2.5 centimeters) recorded in multiple communities across Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Alabama, and South Carolina.

That's how many deaths were reported in states afflicted with severe cold as of Tuesday, including car crashes, hypothermia and being hit by snowplows. At least eight people died in Louisiana, and several people were found dead outdoors in New York City.

Ages of three brothers who perished after falling through the frozen surface of a pond Monday in Texas.

That's how long it could take to restore power in Allen County, Kentucky, according to city estimates when the storm hit. Other communities in the South also say it could take a week or more.

The amount of sleet (17 centimeters) that fell at Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas, according to preliminary totals.

That’s how much snow (56.4 centimeters) fell during the storm in Sterling, Massachusetts. The number was a preliminary figure through Monday morning.

The temperature in Fahrenheit (minus 10 Celsius) that’s expected early Wednesday morning in Tennessee’s capital city of Nashville.

The temperature in Fahrenheit (10 Celsius) inside Marshall Ramsey’s home in Oxford, Mississippi, on Monday morning after he lost power. He said the weekend ice storm “was like a demonic symphony of trees breaking, transformers blowing and thunder.”

The low temperature in Fahrenheit for Orlando, Florida, expected by early next week, which is minus 2 Celsius, the National Weather Service is projecting. The frigid forecast for one of the nation's top tourist destinations is part of what could become “the longest duration of cold in several decades,” the agency’s Weather Prediction Center warned.

The number of places in Nashville where people without power can go to warm up and charge their phones, including fire and police stations.

The number of dogs rescued from a rural property in the Tupelo, Mississippi, area just before the ice storm by Paws of War. The New York-based nonprofit rescues animals and places them with veterans and first responders.

The number of Nashville Electric Service customers without power in the Nashville area on Tuesday, according to the company.

Customers without power in all of Tennessee on Tuesday, according to poweroutage.com.

Customers without power in Mississippi on Tuesday, according to poweroutage.com.

Customers without power in Louisiana on Tuesday, according to poweroutage.com.

A lineman works to restore power in Oxford, Miss. on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, following a weekend ice storm. (AP Photo/Bruce Newman)

Mandy Rosenthal pulls her son Wesley, 4, on a snowboard in a small park in New York, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

In this image provided by the City of Oxford, Miss., snow and ice cover trees and streets as a winter storm passes through, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Oxford, Miss. (Josh McCoy/City of Oxford, Miss. via AP)

Residents dig out their cars in the South Boston neighborhood following a winter storm that dump more than a foot of snow across the region, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Power lines are seen during a winter storm Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)