A federal district judge has called on several White House officials to come to court and explain why President Obama’s executive action on immigration hasn’t been halted, as previously ordered.
The hearing is set for Aug. 19, the American Center for Law and Justice reported. And among those ordered to appear: Jeh Johnson, secretary of Homeland Security; Gil Kerlinkowske, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection; and Ronald Vitiello, deputy chief of U.S. Border Patrol. A handful of other federal immigration officials were called to account, too.
“Each individual defendant must attend and be prepared to show why he or she should not be held in contempt of court,” U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen wrote in the order.
The order comes on the heels of the Obama administration’s failure to follow a federal court injunction issued earlier this year, halting a White House amnesty plan that bypassed Congress.
The ACLJ filed an amicus brief in that court case, saying Obama did not have constitutional authority to rewrite immigration laws – that only the legislature had that authority.
In its new order, the federal district court found the Obama administration had gone ahead with its immigration vision anyway, and that “approximately 2,000 individuals … were given various benefits in violation of this court’s order after the injunction was issued.”
The court called the Obama administration’s actions “shocking” and demanded an explanation.
The judge wrote, the ACLJ reported: “The court was first apprised by the government of the violations of its injunction on May 7, 2015. It admitted that it violated this court’s injunction on at least 2,000 occasions—violations which have not yet been fixed. 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. 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.”
The judge admonished the officials, saying “at some point, when a non-compliant party refuses to bring its conduct into compliance, one must conclude that the conduct is not accidental, but deliberate.”
And the court order also included a warning for the federal authorities that “stronger motivation” would be issued, if compliance on the matter didn’t soon come.
The ACLJ said in a written statement: “Those are strong words from a federal judge. The Obama administration’s refusal to comply with a federal court’s lawful order would be unthinkable, but it is happening. … We will continue fighting to ensure the law is upheld against this imperial president.”
