AP
July 8, 2015
A
federal judge in Texas has threatened to hold Homeland Security
Secretary Jeh Johnson and other top immigration enforcement officials in
contempt of court for not fixing
problems that led to work permits being mistakenly awarded under
President Barack Obama's executive immigration action after the judge
had put the plan on hold.
The
Justice Department had said about 2,000 individuals had been sent
three-year work authorizations after U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in
Brownsville, Texas, temporarily
blocked the immigration action on Feb. 16.
In
a court order Tuesday, Hanen said government officials have yet to fix
the problem. The judge also requested Johnson and four other officials
attend an Aug. 19 hearing
to explain why the issue hasn't been fixed and to "be prepared to show
why he or she should not be held in contempt of court."
"This
court has expressed its willingness to believe that these actions were
accidental and not done purposefully to violate this court's order.
Nevertheless, it is shocked
and surprised at the cavalier attitude the government has taken with
regard to its 'efforts' to rectify this situation," Hanen wrote.
The
other officials are: R. Gil Kerlikowske, commissioner of U.S. Customs
and Border Protection; Ronald Vitiello, deputy chief of the U.S. Border
Patrol; Sarah Saldaña,
director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and Leon
Rodriguez, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Homeland
Security spokeswoman Marsha Catron said in an email her agency and the
Justice Department are reviewing Hanen's order. Justice Department
spokesman Patrick Rodenbush
declined to comment.
In
court documents filed in May, Rodríguez had said his agency had
implemented "immediate corrective measures," including revoking the
permits and modifying computer systems
to prevent issuing such permits in the future.
Hanen said in his order that if the federal government fixes the problem by July 31, he will cancel the Aug. 19 hearing.
Obama
proposed in November expanding a program that protects young immigrants from deportation if they were brought to the U.S. illegally as children and adding another that extends deportation protections to parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have been in the country for some years.
He
said lack of action by Congress forced him to make sweeping changes to
immigration rules on his own, but Republicans said Obama overstepped his
authority.
The
judge had issued the injunction at the request of a coalition of 26
states, led by Texas, which have filed a lawsuit to stop Obama's action,
saying it is unconstitutional.
An appeal of Hanen's ruling is set to be argued Friday before the 5th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
Hanen
has previously criticized the federal government's actions in the
lawsuit, saying the government had been "misleading" after officials
revealed that more than 108,000
people had already received three-year reprieves from deportation as
well as work permits when the judge had believed that no action would be
taken before he issued a ruling on the injunction.
Justice
Department attorneys apologized for any confusion regarding the 108,000
reprieves but insisted they were granted under a 2012 program that
wasn't affected by the
injunction.
Along
with Texas, the states seeking to block Obama's action are: Alabama,
Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana,
Maine, Michigan, Mississippi,
Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio,
Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia
and Wisconsin.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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