Federal judge Andrew Hanen has declined to lift his injunction against President Obama’s November executive amnesty, ruling yesterday that the government has not “shown any credible reason for why this Directive necessitates immediate implementation.” The ruling is a temporary victory for the 26 states, led by Texas, that have filed suit against the president’s Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA).
The decision comes after an uncomfortable March hearing in which Judge Hanen scolded Department of Justice lawyers for assuring him, over two-and-a-half months of court proceedings, that the Department of Homeland Security was not acting on the president’s order — only to reveal, in early March, that DHS had received and accepted approximately 108,000 applications for deferred action under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) expansion contained in the president’s November order.
Judge Hanen threatened sanctions against the DOJ, but refrained from issuing any this week, writing, “The parties’ arguments should be decided on their relative merits according to the law, not clouded by outside allegations that may or may not bear on the ultimate issues in this lawsuit.”
The government has appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to overrule Judge Hanen and lift the injunction. That court will hear arguments on April 17.