Posted on 10/04/2018 10:03:05 AM PDT by Steve Schulin
The Trump administration’s plan to deport more than 300,000 undocumented immigrants whose home countries have been hit by disasters was blocked Wednesday by a San Francisco federal judge, who said the administration had abruptly changed federal policies without explanation and may have been motivated by racism.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen issued a nationwide injunction preserving temporary protected status for former residents of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti and Sudan. President Trump’s Department of Homeland Security had decided to revoke that status for all four nations, eliminating the immigrants’ protections from deportation. The deportations had been scheduled to start with the removals of about 1,000 Sudanese Nov. 2 and proceed through fall 2019.
Temporary protected status, established by a 1990 federal law, allows undocumented immigrants with no serious criminal records to live and work in the United States if a natural disaster or war in their homeland has made it unsafe to return. The status is typically renewed every 18 months.
Immigrants from 10 nations currently hold the status. The suit was filed on behalf of 263,000 Salvadorans, who were allowed to remain in the U.S. after a 2001 earthquake; 5,300 Nicaraguans, after a hurricane in 1998; 46,000 Haitians, following a 2010 quake; and 1,000 Sudanese because of an ongoing civil war.
The program hit the public spotlight after Trump, discussing temporary protected status at a White House meeting in January, asked why the U.S. was admitting so many people from what he called “s—-hole countries,” referring to Haiti and African nations.
A week later, Homeland Security announced the termination of protected status for Haitians. That was evidence, Chen said, that the decision may have been influenced by racial discrimination, in violation of the Constitution.
He also cited Trump’s campaign claim that Mexican immigrants were drug dealers and rapists as well as his assertions last year that Haitian immigrants “all have AIDS” and that Nigerians, after entering the United States, would “never go back to their huts” in Africa.
In addition, Chen noted, then-Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke said in a memo last year that revocation of protected status was “a result of an America First view,” one of Trump’s frequent slogans. That and other writings suggest that Duke was “largely carrying out or conforming with a predetermined presidential agenda to end TPS,” the judge said.
He said advocates for the immigrants were likely to prove that the administration had violated a federal law requiring the government to present a rational explanation for policy changes that cause hardship to individuals.
Past administrations have renewed protected status due to ongoing hardships in the immigrants’ homelands, such as a hurricane and an outbreak of cholera in Haiti and violence and natural disasters in Nicaragua and El Salvador. But Trump’s Homeland Security Department said the law required termination of protected status once the hardships caused by the original disaster no longer exist.
While Justice Department lawyers argued that the administration was still following the same law and was merely changing its “emphasis,” Chen said its new policy was “a clear departure from prior (government) practice,” carried out without any explanation.
If the change is carried out, he said, holders of protected status —some of whom have lived in the U.S. for 20 years — “risk being uprooted from their homes, jobs, careers, and communities. They face removal to countries to which their children and family members may have little or no ties and which may not be safe,” and their U.S.-born children would face the choice of leaving their native country or separating from their parents.
It’s possible the Trump administration will appeal the ruling.
Representatives of the Department of Homeland Security said it would not comment on pending litigation. Department of Justice officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
How many generations should a “disaster refugee family” be allowed to stay here? Some of these disasters were decades ago.
Why does he get a lib judge each and every time?
Help is on the way.
Yes, refugees here on the 20-30 year plan.
ROTFLMAO!
Can anyone explain the legal mechanism where one of a thousand-plus federal judges can block anything the President does? Why must the President comply? What prevents him from ignoring the judge and just continuing on his course?
It seems by blocking the president’s orders the judges automatically have the same power as the president. Surely that isn’t the case.
When will we stop letting rogue judges run this country?!?!?!?
If we can hold the House and Senate we’ll overcome this setback...
YESSS! He needs to be at his seat at the SCOTUS on Monday. And it’s long past time when the Congress takes action on these renegade Federal Judges. Remove a couple of them for their behavior, and the rest will, most likely follow.
We are only a smidgen away from the left totally ignoring SCOTUS or any court ruling they do not win.
What happens then?
This Obammy 2011 appointee and UC Bezerkeley alum looks to have been submitted more than once for consideration as Fed Judge.
He used to be a staff atty. for ACLU locally.
—
Chen, Edward Milton
Born 1953 in Oakland, CA
https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/chen-edward-milton
Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Nominated by Barack Obama on January 5, 2011, to a seat vacated by Martin J. Jenkins. Confirmed by the Senate on May 10, 2011, and received commission on May 12, 2011.
Other Federal Judicial Service:
U.S. Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, 2001-2011
Education:
University of California, Berkeley, A.B., 1975
University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, J.D., 1979
Professional Career:
Law clerk, Hon. Charles B. Renfrew, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 1979-1980
Attorney, Asian Law Caucus, San Francisco, California, 1980-1981
Law clerk, Hon. James R. Browning, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1981-1982
Private practice, San Francisco, California, 1982-1985
Staff attorney, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California, 1985-2001
Other Nominations/Recess Appointments:
Nominated to U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, August 6, 2009; no Senate vote
Nominated to U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, January 20, 2010; no Senate vote
Nominated to U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, September 13, 2010; no Senate vote
TPS was granted based on the first letter: Temporary.
It ended. Time to head home. We warned that they would pull this crap when it was granted; the disaster aid thing was a scam.
The anchor babies can go with them. Whether they are “citizens” or not is yet to be adjudicated. Just saying they are doesn’t make it true. They inherit the nationality of their parents whose nationality did not change by granting a temporary stay of deportation.
So whether they can come back and vote in our elections and call themselves “Americans” is TBD.
Basically this destroys any chance of any more refugees here,why would this country take them....if there is absolutely no chance of them ever going home.
My guess these are going to be last people admitted under that kind of a policy for a while.
Which is a shame because there are some genuine people with an actual need to flee their country and find a safe haven.
” U.S. District Judge Edward Chen issued a nationwide injunction....”
Oh, and it’d really be SWEET if Mr. Justice Kavanaugh wrote that opinion!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.