Federal judge refuses appeal to let deportation halt continue, relying on Obama’s own words

By Stephen Dinan - April 7, 2015

President Obama’s new deportation amnesty will remain halted, a federal judge in Texas ruled Tuesday night in an order that also delivered a judicial spanking to the president’s lawyers for misleading the court.

Judge Andrew S. Hanen, who first halted the amnesty in February, just two days before it was to take effect, said he’s even more convinced of his decision now, particularly after Mr. Obama earlier this year said he intends for his policies to supersede federal laws.

Judge Hanen pointed to Mr. Obama’s comments at a February town hall when the president warned immigration agents to adhere to his policies or else face “consequences.”

“In summary, the chief executive has ordered that the laws requiring removal of illegal immigrants that conflict with the 2014 DHS directive are not to be enforced, and that anyone who attempts to do so will be punished,” Judge Hanen wrote.

“This is not merely ineffective enforcement. This is total non-enforcement,” the judge continued, saying that Mr. Obama’s own descriptions of how he is carrying out his policies have hurt his case.

Mr. Obama in November announced a new amnesty for illegal immigrant parents whose children are either U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. The amnesty could apply to as many as 5 million illegal immigrants.

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Texas and 25 other states sued to stop Mr. Obama, and Judge Hanen sided with them, finding that they suffered an economic harm from the policy, granting them standing in court, and then finding that the president broke the law in bypassing Congress to announce his policy.

The administration has appealed Judge Hanen’s ruling, but also asked the judge to reconsider.

On Tuesday the judge not only refused to reconsider, but also said the administration misled him when it said no part of the amnesty had been implemented, and the lawyers bungled their attempt to try to repair the damage by filing an “advisory” with the judge early last month.

Since November, the administration had been granting a three-year amnesty to illegal immigrant Dreamers under the new policy. That’s a year longer than the two-year program Mr. Obama announced for the Dreamers in 2012.

More than 100,000 applications were approved for the three-year amnesty between Nov. 21 and the February date when Judge Hanen halted the program.

“Whether by ignorance, omission, purposeful misdirection, or because they were misled by their clients, the attorneys for the government misrepresented the facts,” the judge said, adding that he was stunned the government waited for two more weeks after his ruling to inform him that the applications had already been processed.

Texas argues that had it known applications were being processed, it would have taken extra legal steps to try to halt the program earlier.

Judge Hanen said he may still issue sanctions against the government for misleading him — though he declined to strike the government’s pleadings, which would have essentially closed the case and granted victory to Texas.



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