The Obama administration violated U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen’s injunction halting President Obama’s executive amnesty programs, Justice Department lawyers have admitted to the court, according to the Washington Times.
The Times reports that in a late night filing Thursday, Justice Department lawyers revealed that the Department of Homeland Security had issued some 2,000 three-year work permits (as opposed to the currently permissible two-year permits) to illegal immigrants granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
The issuance of the three-year work permits — an aspect of Obama’s November 20 executive actions which expanded DACA — was violation of Hanen’s February 16 injunction preventing the executive amnesty programs from going forward.
This occurred despite repeated statements from administration officials that they were abiding by the injunction.
“The government sincerely regrets these circumstances and is taking immediate steps to remedy these erroneous three-year terms,” the Times quoted the lawyers, who added they would get more information to Hanen about what went awry by May 15.
According to the Times, DHS Sec. Jeh Johnson has requested the DHS inspector general look into the snafu and officials are looking into replacing the three-year permits DHS improperly issued with the proper two-year ones.
The admission comes on the heels of an earlier administration misstep, again dealing with the issuance of three-year DACA work permits.
As previously reported, DHS jumped the gun on those issuances shortly after Obama’s November 20 announcement issuing more than 100,000 of three-year permits before the injunction. The matter appeared to raise Hanen’s ire as he accused the administration lawyers of misleading him and trafficking in “half truths.”
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