U.S. Fights Penalty Threat in Obama Immigration-Policy Suit

Bloomberg

By Laurel Brubaker Calkins

March 21, 2015

U.S. Fights Penalty Threat in Obama Immigration-Policy Suit 

The Obama administration asked a federal judge not to penalize it for failing to tell him that a program intended to loosen immigration restrictions was partially implemented, despite his order temporarily blocking it.

The government’s request Saturday followed a threat by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, in Brownsville, Texas, to sanction administration lawyers. Hanen granted a request last month by 26 states to block the initiative by President Barack Obama until their lawsuit challenging it is resolved.

As many as 5 million immigrants could receive deportation waivers and benefits under the plan, announced in November. To qualify, applicants must have been in the U.S. for at least five years and have a child who was born a citizen, or who were brought here themselves as children. They must also pass a criminal background check.

The states claim the program illegally changes immigration law without Congressional approval, and is an amnesty program that rewards people in the country illegally. The White House has defended it as a way to focus limited border-security resources on deporting criminals and recent border crossers, while leaving law-abiding immigrants with family ties in the U.S.

The administration also said it has authority to set immigration priorities as it sees fit, without court review.

Hearing

In a hearing Thursday, Hanen challenged the government to respond to state claims that it ignored his orders, asking Justice Department lawyers to explain how more than 100,000 undocumented immigrants got extended work permits before the program was supposed to begin.

The Justice Department told Hanen in its filing Saturday that “absolutely no evidence of bad faith or willful abuse of this court’s processes exists to justify” sanctions.

The filing followed a Justice Department lawyer’s apology at the hearing for causing the confusion.

Kathleen Hartnett told Hanen that she neglected to mention that 100,000 immigrants who had requested two-year work permits and deportation waivers under a 2012 version of the program were automatically converted to three-year permits by officials who prematurely applied the new policy.

After the Justice Department read Hanen’s order that “clearly” blocked “any and all changes” to both versions of the initiative, officials immediately stopped issuing the three-year permits, she said.

Apology

“I asked, and you said ‘nothing was happening,’” Hanen told Hartnett Thursday. “Like an idiot, I believed that.”

Hanen asked why the states challenging the policy shouldn’t be allowed to dig deeper to determine whether the government’s been telling the truth.

“Can I trust what the president says?” Hanen asked.

“Of course you can,” Hartnett replied. “There’s absolutely no basis” for penalties when government attorneys were the ones who pointed out that “facts may have inadvertently been left out of the case,” she said.

Hanen said he was considering, at a minimum, requiring the federal government to pay the states’ legal fees.

The White House has asked Hanen to reverse the delay of the program while the lawsuit proceeds, and has also petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans to overturn his order.

The case is Texas v. U.S., 1:14-254; U.S. District Court; Southern District of Texas (Brownsville).

For more information, go to:  www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com