In an order released Tuesday evening, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas found that the Obama Administration misled the court regarding early implementation of expanded work permits to illegal immigrants and granted limited discovery in the case. In a separate order, also issued Tuesday evening, the judge denied the Administration’s request to immediately implement executive amnesty. Below are excerpts from his order:
“Whether by ignorance, omission, purposeful misdirection, or because they were misled by their clients, the attorneys for the Government misrepresented the facts.”
“2012 DACA only provided for two-year terms for both original applications and renewal applications. If 108,081 individuals received renewals for three-year terms, those renewals could only have been granted pursuant to the 2014 DHS Directive (containing the revised DACA), which is the very Directive at issue in this case.”
“Despite having had almost a week to disclose the truth – or correct any omission, misunderstanding, confusion or misrepresentation – the Government did not act promptly; instead it again did nothing.”
“Regardless, by their own admission, the Government’s lawyers knew about it at least as of February 17, 2015. Yet, they stood silent. Even worse, they urged this Court to rule before disclosing that the Government had already issued 108,081 three-year renewals under the 2014 DACA amendments despite their statements to the contrary.” [Emphasis in the original.]
“Even under the most charitable interpretation of these circumstances, and based solely upon what counsel for the Government told the Court, the Government knew its representations had created ‘confusion,’ but kept quiet about it for two weeks while simultaneously pressing this Court to rule on the merits of its motion.”
“The Government did anything but act ‘promptly’ to clarify the Government-created ‘confusion.’”
“Defendants have created special circumstances that necessitate further investigation. The Court finds that good cause exists for the pursuit of tailored discovery.”