Obama dealt series of setbacks on immigration, takes fire from all sides

Washington Times ^ | March 22, 2015 | By Stephen Dinan

[Jim Robinson]

President Obama’s immigration policies suffered a rough week, faltering in the courts, taking fire on Capitol Hill, angering his political base and even having his own deportation chief undercut his message as he struggles to find a middle-ground path to overhaul the nation’s immigration system.

The busy week climaxed late Friday, when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced it had deported an illegal immigrant Mennonite pastor, in a case that has sparked fury among immigrant rights advocates who say it exposes the hypocrisy of Mr. Obama’s own statements about pushing for a more lenient policy that keeps families together.

The deportation was announced just hours after ICE Director Sarah Saldana was forced to walk back her statement from a day earlier that she wanted Congress to pass laws requiring state and local authorities to hold and turn over illegal immigrants.

Also Thursday, the federal judge who has temporarily halted Mr. Obama’s amnesty threatened further sanctions against the president’s attorneys, questioning whether they misled him by saying they hadn’t put any of the amnesty into action — even though they had been approving the so-called Dreamers under one part of the expanded program.

“Like an idiot, I believed that,” Judge Andrew S. Hanen said at a hearing in his Brownsville, Texas, courtroom, The Associated Press reported.

Republicans are gearing up for budget battles on the House and Senate floors this week, where immigration is likely to play a role as the GOP seeks to cut down on tax benefits available to those in the country without authorization.

Mr. Obama’s nominee to be the next attorney general, Loretta Lynch, has seen her support crater among Republicans over her backing of Mr. Obama’s amnesty moves, which she told the Senate earlier this year she believed were based on sound legal reasoning.

[Jim Robinson]

Judge Hanen has rejected that legal reasoning and issued an injunction. Ms. Lynch would be in charge of Mr. Obama’s appeal should she win confirmation to lead the Justice Department.

[Steelers6]

Start calling your Senators to demand the 60 Vote threshold be reinstated the rest of Obama’s term. If your not willing to do that then you are supporting her confirmation even if you vote No as long as you know 4 Republican Senators will support her and give her just enough votes to pass!

[Paladin2]

Why screw around.? Deport 0bama.

[Reno89519]

Hopefully Obama continues to have bad weeks like this as he and all of us count down the days until he leaves the White House. I’m still waiting to see Judge Hanen sanction Obama and reverse amnesty.

[Gator113]

Time until Friday, January 20, 2017 (Washington DC time)
668
DAYS
22
HOURS
8
MINUTES
52
SECONDS

[SteveH]

From the article

“The inherent power of the court to impose sanctions is to be exercised with restraint and discretion. Here, absolutely no evidence of bad faith or willful abuse of this court’s processes exists to justify discovery into potential sanctions.”

IANAL but I thought a judge had considerable discretion as to when and why to hold lawyers in contempt. If Hanen is really interested in results and not a runaround, IMHO he could simply throw the appearing lawyers in jail and tell their bosses to show up next time instead of sending underlings. Pretty soon the jail would be full of sorry-ass underling lawyers and the top levels would have to show up and risk jail time if they did not come up with truthful answers. I don’t understand what the reference to discovery is unless it is just another effort to spin public opinion against the court.