The Obama administration said a federal judge is sowing mistrust among illegal immigrants after he demanded immigration officials submit names of tens of thousands of migrants who have signed up for President Obama's deportation amnesty list, reports
The Washington Times.
"The sanctions ordered by the court far exceed the bounds of appropriate remedies," Justice Department lawyers said, reports the Times.
Judge Hanen has been in a dispute with the Obama administration since he ruled Obama's expanded amnesty for illegal immigrant parents illegal. Lawyers said that over 100,000 three-year work permits for the immigrants were approved since Hanen ordered them illegal in 2015, but that lawyers had told him the permits were not issued.
A review of the case in
Medium suggests that it was a misunderstanding between the lawyers and the judge.
The Huffington Post reports Leon Rodriguez, chief of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said, in a separate declaration, that providing the information would undermine immigrants' confidence in the agency.
"I believe the production of such information would have a chilling effect on the willingness of individuals to seek a wide range of immigration benefits from the USCIS," Rodriguez's declaration said.
The Justice Department lawyers also asked the judge not to force thousands of attorneys to take ethics classes after he claimed that the attorneys implemented part of the amnesty in spite of his order against it.
Lee J. Lofthus, assistant attorney general for administration, said in the Times that lawyers already take ethics classes, and more classes would cost up to $1.5 million in lost time this year.
Hanen has set a June 7 hearing regarding the Justice Department's challenge to his sanctions, according to a National Law Journal tweet:
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