Obama’s push for his 2014 deportation amnesty will be taking a timeout.
A federal judge in the Texas Justice Department said the case will be suspended until next year when president Trump is in office.
The joint motion states that “the parties have met and conferred and have reached agreement on how to proceed in this case.”
It was proposed that the resolution of the case be schedule about a month after Trump is sworn in as president.
“Accordingly, the parties respectfully submit that further proceedings on the merits of this case, including the submission of a schedule for resolving the merits, should be stayed until February 20, 2017,” said Justice Department and lawyers for Texas in request of Judge Andrew S. Hanen.
Judge Hanen formerly halted Obama’s case for expanded amnesty back in February of 2015 just two days before it was supposed to go into effect, ruling that the administration broke administrative law.
Now that Trump will be entering the White House, Judge Hanen believes he should weigh in.
“Given the change in Administration, the parties jointly submit that a brief stay of any further litigation in this Court before beginning any further proceedings would serve judicial efficiency and economy so that the parties have a better understanding of how they might choose to move forward,” said both sides in agreement.
Obama and Trump have drastically different stances on immigration. The deportation amnesty would be granted to more than 4 million illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children or have legal immigrants’ parents who are American citizens.
These immigrants would be given tentative legal status for three years and they would be protected from being deported. They could receive work permits and some taxpayer benefits.
This amnesty program was not a declared executive order, but by a number of memos from the Homeland Security secretary.
“Judge Hanen ruled the amnesty violated the Administrative Procedure Act because it was a major policy change that should have been put out for public review and comment. The appeals court went further, ruling Mr. Obama broke immigration law, which never envisioned so broad a use of “deferred action” powers,” writes The Washington Post.
Now that the case is postponed and the Trump’s administration will reflect an entirely different stance on immigration, this amnesty will most likely not pass. Not to mention, the case already was constantly opposed.
U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen in the Southern District of Texas, issued the order blocking the unilateral federal action in February of 2015, as reported by Breitbart Texas. On appeal from that order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed in November 2015. A tie at the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2016, left in place the injunction of Judge Hanen after the Fifth Circuit affirmed the lower court ruling, as reported by Breitbart Texas. Breitbart Texas reported in early October that the United States Supreme Court denied President Obama’s request to rehear the executive amnesty case. The federal district court injunction therefore stands,” writes Breitbart.