President Obama’s lawyers admitted Thursday that DHS approved thousands of work permits under amnesty, despite a court order halting the program. The admission came just before the midnight deadline ordered by the Texas judge. This is just the latest in a series of “missteps” this administration that has them facing possible sanctions for violating the court order.
President Obama’s Justice Department stated just before the deadline that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) let their immigration department approve around 2200 work permits since they got in trouble for it in February. Judge Hanen’s injunction went into effect on February 16, halting the entire program. DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, and other Obama officials, had repeatedly told Congress that they had fully halted the program and were complying with the federal court orders.
“The government sincerely regrets these circumstances and is taking immediate steps to remedy these erroneous three-year terms,” the administration lawyers said. (Washington Times)
Senator Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judicial Committee, stated it was “remarkable” that the administration would ignore the courts and continue to approve applications.
“The last time I checked, injunctions are not mere suggestions. They are not optional,” the Iowa Republican said. “This disregard for the court’s action is unacceptable and disturbing, especially after Secretary Johnson’s assurances that his agency would honor the injunction.” (Washington Times)
Senator Grassley has now issued Secretary Johnson a letter demanding all communications about implementing the three year policy despite the courts.
The Justice Department refused to respond to the media on Friday, May 8th. Homeland Security told the press that Mr. Johnson has asked the department’s inspector generals to find out what went wrong. They also stated they were working to revoke the three year permits and issue them as two year permits instead. That in itself can be construed as a violation of the court’s orders.
Judge Hanen had already pondered ways to admonish and fine the Justice Department after they violated court orders and admitted to misleading the court. They had previously stated they “inadvertently” had approved more then 100,000 permits between November 20 and the February 16 injunction, despite the matter being in court. The midnight deadline is assured to bring on the full scrutiny of this administration’s behavior since this is not the first time they have lied to the court.
The administration also had to admit they lied about receiving and approving only 55 applications in the immediate aftermath of the injunction. They stated they actually approved 72 in just days following the February 16 decision. They blamed “additional errors”.
We can pretty much bet the judge won’t be approving the appeal to remove the injunction anytime soon after this revelation.
Judge Hanen had previously stated he avoided fines because ultimately the burden of payment fell on the taxpayer for the Justice Department’s “mistakes.” He stated he was surprised they ignored his rulings and had told him none of the program was implemented. The Justice Department’s lawyers said they didn’t mean to mislead him and apologized for leaving the wrong impression.
A normal person would be facing an array of felonies by this point, including contempt of court, obstruction of justice, blatant disregard of a court order, and perjury. Let’s hope the Justice Department and the administration finally gets the justice that’s coming to them.
The law is irrelevant to dictators. Obama IS the law, and will continue to be the law until he’s stopped.