The federal judge who put a temporary hold on President Barack Obama's executive immigrant amnesty efforts scolded government lawyers on Thursday for misleading him on a key aspect of the program, saying he was made to "look like an idiot" and may decide to place sanctions on the Justice Department, reported Reuters.
The issue at play here involves the government's expansion of the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.
At a hearing in January, Justice Department attorney Kathleen Hartnett told U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen that the administration would wait until the judge ruled on a request for a preliminary injunction before moving forward with providing deportation relief to thousands of young illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
Twenty-six states, led by Texas, are suing the Obama administration over its efforts to grant as many as 5 million illegal immigrants deportation relief, calling action unconstitutional. On Feb. 16, Hanen sided with those states and issued a preliminary injunction blocking Obama's actions.
But it turns out that federal officials had granted more than 108,000 immigrants three-year reprieves before that date, and even granted them work permits under the program.
"When I asked you what would happen and you said nothing I took it to heart," Hanen said, according to Reuters. "I was made to look like an idiot. I believed your word that nothing would happen."
Hartnett profusely apologized to Hanen for the confusion, and tried to explain how the reprieves and work permits were granted.
"We strive to be as candid as possible. It truly became clear to use there was confusion on this point," she said, adding that the 108,081 reprieves had been granted under 2012 guidelines which were not stopped by the injunction. Government attorneys didn't properly explain this because they were focused on other aspects of the proposed action, Hanen said, according to Reuters.
Hanen reminded Hartnett that the 2012 guidelines only granted two-year reprieves, but the administration was now proposing three-year reprieves.
"Can I trust what the president says? That's a yes of no question," Hanen asked.
Hartnett replied, "Yes your honor."
According to Angela Colmenero, a lawyer with the Texas Attorney General's Office, because the Justice Department made "representations that proved not to be true or at a minimum less than forthcoming," Hanen should consider issuing sanctions.
"The defendant did the exact opposite and gave 100,000 renewals for a term of three years under the expanded DACA," Colmenero said, reported Breitbart. "The defendant didn't inform the court until March 3-15 days after the injunction was filed."
Some of the state may have already issued benefits, including driver's licenses, to immigrants who received a reprieve, which could have caused those states economic harm, Colmenero said.
"There is absolutely no basis for sanctions here," Hartnett said. "The government is absolutely trying to do the right thing."
Hanen said he would issue a ruling in the near future.
