Judge blocks DOJ effort to sanction immigration lawyer who tried to stop client's deportation

Source: Politico

04/20/2026 05:53 PM EDT Updated: 04/20/2026 09:52 PM EDT


A federal judge in Guam has rejected the Trump administration’s bid to punish an immigration lawyer it accused of filing meritless litigation that briefly delayed a Laotian immigrant’s deportation from the U.S. to Laos.

The Justice Department contended that California attorney Joshua Schroeder made “knowing or reckless misrepresentations” and presented “frivolous arguments” to three different federal courts in an ultimately unsuccessful bid to prevent the deportation of his client, Vang Lor, who pleaded guilty to attempted murder in California in 1998 and was sentenced to 22 years in prison.

The legal maneuvering resulted in immigration officials removing Lor from a plane in Guam as he was en route to Laos. He spent about two weeks in jail there, until the courts cleared the way for his deportation and new flights were arranged.

But in a ruling Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood rebuffed the Justice Department’s request to punish Schroeder by imposing a “substantial” monetary penalty and through other steps. DOJ billed its attempt to impose sanctions on Schroeder as a response to an executive order President Donald Trump issued last year targeting “attorneys and law firms who engage in frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States.” The judge said Schroeder’s contentions did not carry the day, but were not so outlandish as to merit sanctions.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/20/immigration-lawyer-doj-sanctions-ruling-00882081