The federal judge who halted President Obama’s executive amnesty programs is demanding top immigration officials appear in his court to answer for the administration’s violations of his injunction.
In a court order, U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen expressed frustration at the administration’s failure to correct the violations of his order in a timely manner.
“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 in his order, obtained by Politico.
The problem is the issuance of more than 2,000 three-year work permits issued to illegal immigrants under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals under Obama’s expansion of the program, as opposed to current two-year permits. The administration admitted to issuing the three-year permits after Hanen issued his February injunction.
The violation came on the heels of another administration admission that it had issued three-year work permits to some 108,800 illegal immigrants before the injunction and before the official start date of executive amnesty.
Hanen has expressed outraged in past orders about the administration’s violations and lack of transparency about the missteps. In recent weeks the administration has further admitted that it has not recouped all of the three-year work permits that it erroneously issued, in violation of Hanen’s order.
“The Government promised this Court on May 7, 2015, that ‘immediate steps’ were being taken to remedy the violations of the injunction… Yet, as of June 23, 2015—some six weeks after making that representation—the situation had not been rectified,” Hanen wrote in his Tuesday order.
He also demanded the administration come into full compliance with his prior order, noting that even the government conceded that it directly violated his order, allowing two months to pass without fully remedying the violation.
“That is unacceptable and, as far as the Government’s attorneys are concerned, completely unprofessional. To be clear, this Court expects the Government to be in full compliance with this Court’s injunction. Compliance as to just those aliens living in the Plaintiff States is not full compliance,” Hanen added.
He noted that if the government comes in compliance with his order by July 31 he will cancel the August hearing at which he is expecting the named defendants in the case: Department of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, Customs and Border Patrol Director Gil Kerlikowske, Deputy Border Patrol Chief Ronald Vitiello, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Sarah Saldana, and Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Leon Rodriguez.
DHS spokeswoman Marsha Catron confirmed to Politico that it has received the order and “is currently reviewing it with the Department of Justice.”