Thread: Dallas federal judge dismisses civil suit by deportation agents

Dallas federal judge dismisses civil suit by deportation agents


By Dianne Solis
dsolis@dallasnews.com
4:05 pm on July 31, 2013 | Permalink


UPDATE: 4:20 p.m.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund just issued a statement on the dismissal of the ICE deportation agents’ suit. MALDEF watched the Dallas case closely and tried to intervene on behalf of two immigrants, Pamela Reséndiz and Carolina Canizalez, and a UT Austin leadership program.

“The DACA program is in our nation’s best interests; deporting promising young people raised and educated in this country is a foolish and self-destructive policy error that our nation must not repeat,” said Tom Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel. “Today’s decision should also encourage eligible students to apply for DACA as a step toward securing their future success and contributions to this nation.”
*** *** ***

A Dallas federal court judge dismissed on Wednesday an unusual civil suit filed by ten deportation officers who challenged a program that suspends deportations for certain young immigrants.

Judge Reed O’Connor cited the Civil Service Reform Act as the reason for the dismissal. The civil service act provides a comprehensive remedy for resolving federal employment disputes and so the federal court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction, said the judge of the U.S. Northern District of Texas.

In the crosshairs was an initiative called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and announced with great ceremony a year ago by President Obama. It aims to assist certain young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children unlawfully by their parents or who are in the U.S. unlawfully now because of expired visas. As many as 1.7 million immigrants have been estimated to be eligible for the deferred action program.

Such immigrants are often called DREAMers, after failed federal legislation that would have provided a pathway to citizenship.

O’Connor did express agreement on some of the points raised by the plaintiffs and had said that in an earlier order. “While the court finds that plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim challenging the directive … as contrary to the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act…” O’Connor wrote.

The agents’ lawyers include Kris Kobach, who is also the Kansas secretary of state and has been involved in many suits seeking tougher immigration enforcement nationally. Co-counsel is P. Michael Jung of Dallas-based Strasburger & Price. Both Kobach and Jung have also represented the city of Farmers Branch in their attempts to bar immigrants in the U.S. unlawfully from rental housing.

Kobach on Wednesday also said he will meet with his clients, employed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to decide the next move. That could include an appeal or using the civil service system to settle the matter, he said.
Kobach also said he will be in Farmers Branch next Tuesday to meet with the City Council to discuss legal options on the renters’ ordinance. Earlier this month, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled against the city of Farmers Branch and the ordinance that provides criminal misdemeanor sanctions.

http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2013/07/dallas-federal-judge-dismisses-civil-suit-by-deportation-agents.html/

Judges dismisses lawsuit challenging Obama policy against deporting some young immigrants

• Article by: ALICIA A. CALDWELL , Associated Press
• Updated: July 31, 2013 - 4:50 PM

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama's policy of stopping the deportation of some young immigrants in the country illegally.

U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor dismissed the lawsuit Wednesday for "lack of subject-matter jurisdiction."

A group of Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees sued the government last year to stop the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

They argued that the policy violates federal law and forces ICE employees to break the law by not arresting certain immigrants in the country illegally.

The Obama administration said the policy would allow many young immigrants brought to the country as children to avoid deportation for up to two years and to get permission to work in the country legally. It was derided by critics as "backdoor amnesty."

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/217824971.html

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f12/immigration...policy-262978/

Obama Administration Deferred Deportation Suit Thrown Out

By Andrew Harris - Jul 31, 2013 4:04 PM PT

Ten U.S. immigration agents lost a challenge to an Obama administration initiative to defer deportation of some people who are in the country illegally.

The agents contended that the plan announced in June 2012 was unlawful and placed them in the untenable position of violating their sworn duty to uphold federal law by complying with the directive or facing discipline for failing to do so.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Dallas today dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that federal civil service laws deprive him of jurisdiction over what the administration maintained was an employment dispute.

“Congress has determined that this court does not have jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ disputes,” the judge said. Still, O’Connor maintained the agents are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the directive is contrary to the federal Immigration and Nationality Act.

The directive gives agents the ability to defer action on people unlawfully in the U.S. if they came to the country under the age of 16, are in school or have obtained a high school diploma, haven’t been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor or multiple misdemeanors, and aren’t a threat to public safety or national security.

‘Deferred Action’

The “Deferred Action” initiative, announced in June, was created with the intent of shifting immigration agency focus toward border security and the removal of dangerous people.

“This is not amnesty, this is not immunity,” Obama said at the time. “This is not a path to citizenship, it’s not a permanent fix.” Deferral, if conferred, is valid for two years, during which the person may obtain authorization for employment, and can be renewed, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website.

The deferral can be renewed.

The case was filed by attorney Kris Kobach, who also serves as Kansas Secretary of State and is a national Republican Party adviser. Lead plaintiff Christopher L. Crane is president of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, a 7,600-member federal immigration agents’ union.

Kobach didn’t immediately reply to a voice-mail message seeking comment on the court’s decision.

While O’Connor concluded after an April hearing that the Department of Homeland Security didn’t have the discretion to refuse to initiate deportation proceedings, he refrained from ruling on the agents’ request for injunctive relief, ordering an additional round of briefing.

The case is Crane v. Napolitano, 3:12-cv-03247, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas).

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in the Chicago federal courthouse at aharris16@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-31/obama-administration-deferred-deportation-suit-thrown-out.html

Damn that judge! He dismissed this case on technical grounds and refused to even hear the merits. This is not an employee vs employer issue, this is about a complete bypass of existing federal law by the Executive Branch!

W

Judge Dismisses Suit to End Deportation Deferrals

New York Times

- ‎59 minutes ago‎

A federal district judge in Dallas, in a surprise turnaround from an earlier opinion, on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by immigration enforcement agents seeking to halt an Obama administration program that gives reprieves from deportation to young ...


Judge dismisses suit against immigration policy

Westport-News

- ‎53 minutes ago‎

Judge tosses immigration agents' suit against Napolitano

Washington Times

- ‎2 hours ago‎

Dallas federal judge dismisses civil suit by deportation agents

Dallas Morning News (blog)

- ‎3 hours ago‎

Obama Defeats Legal Challenge to Deferred-Deportation Plan (1)

Businessweek

- ‎4 hours ago‎

Show recently hidden articles

See all 5 articles »

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f12/judge-obama...2t-sue-284792/

August 2, 2013
Judicial Watch

A federal court in Texas has chided the backdoor Obama amnesty initiative that will spare nearly a million illegal immigrants, writing in a ruling that it’s “contrary to congressional mandate.”

The admonishment comes from Judge Reed O’Connor in Dallas, who this week dismissed a lawsuit brought by 10 Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents opposed to implementing Obama’s amnesty, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The initiative allows illegal immigrants 30 and younger to remain in the U.S. and obtain work permits if they entered the country as children (“through no fault of their own,” as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano loves to say).

When the directive was issued to stop deporting this particular group of illegal aliens, the federal officers claimed that they were being forced to violate their required duties set by Congress. Their attorney argued that the ICE agents were being ordered by their superiors to break federal law or face disciplinary action, saying that this is an abuse of authority.

While Judge O’Connor dismissed the suit based on a procedural question, he agreed with some of its major points. For instance, in his seven-page opinion he writes that the agents were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim challenging the directive, which the judge calls “contrary to the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act.” The “Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has implemented a program contrary to congressional mandate,” the ruling says.

This proves that DACA, implemented via executive order by Obama last summer, violates federal law and therefore government agents have in fact been ordered to break the law. This has occurred repeatedly during Obama’s presidency, though the administration kept it largely under wraps rather than make it public like it did with the Rose Garden press conference to announce DACA.

Back in 2010 Texas’ largest newspaper published an exposé about a then-secret DHS initiative that systematically cancelled pending deportations. The remarkable program stunned the legal profession and baffled immigration attorneys who revealed the government bounced their clients’ deportation even when expulsion was virtually guaranteed. It marked the beginning of the president’s stealth amnesty initiative.

Judicial Watch has been a front runner in investigating the Obama administration’s backdoor amnesty program by pursuing DHS records involving “deferred action” or “parole” to suspend removal proceedings against a particular group of individuals. As part of that probe JW obtained documents just a few weeks ago showing that DHS abandoned required background checks, instead adopting costly “lean and lite” procedures to push through a flood of DACA applications.

http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/20...ional-mandate/

Added Judicial Watch article to the Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/content.php?r=2...Mandate”