Federal prosecutors in western Washington say they lack the resources to defend the government in every immigration detention challenge, a shift that could allow judges to decide some cases without hearing from government lawyers.

In an October 26 letter to Chief U.S. District Judge David Estudillo, Charles Neil Floyd, who identifies himself as acting U.S. attorney, said his office could no longer assign assistant U.S. attorneys to all of the dozens of immigration habeas petitions filed each week. Such petitions allow people in custody to challenge the legality of their detention.

The growing caseload, Floyd wrote, had “severely impacted” the office’s ability to investigate individual petitions and respond to other civil litigation. He also cited the work required to respond to attorney-fee requests and court actions arising from missed scheduling deadlines.

“Going forward, in order to conserve resources, there will be many habeas cases in which the USAO will no longer assume responsibility for providing a defense on behalf of the respondents,” Floyd wrote.

Under the district’s procedures, if a government lawyer does not appear within seven court days of a scheduling order, a judge may decide a case based on the petitioner’s submissions alone. Floyd said his office would not facilitate those cases or relay communications between the court and federal officials. Release orders, he wrote, could instead be emailed directly to the Northwest ICE Processing Center.

The letter became public as an exhibit in the case of Baljit Singh, an asylum seeker from India who was detained in September after he and friends accidentally reached a Canadian border exit while visiting a state park. U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright later described his petition as “intentionally unopposed” and ordered him released within 24 hours.

The move comes amid a broader loss of federal legal staff. More than 10,000 federal lawyers have left government since the start of 2025, and the Justice Department has lost 21% of its attorneys, according to earlier reporting by Above the Law. Roughly 2,000 immigration habeas petitions have been filed in western Washington since January 2025.

Many challenges concern detention without bond hearings. Floyd was among four immigration judges in Tacoma who began denying such hearings in 2022, before the Trump administration adopted the approach nationwide. Cartwright ruled the practice unlawful last year; the issue is now before the Supreme Court.

Floyd’s own position remains disputed. Attorney General Todd Blanche fired court-appointed U.S. Attorney Roger Rogoff shortly after his appointment, but a federal judge subsequently ruled that Rogoff was the rightful officeholder. The government has appealed.