Obama apologizes for “misleading” judge on Executive Amnesty start dates – sort of
Having exhausted all other efforts to stonewall…change the subject… respond through anonymous sources… unleash “messaging” surrogates… and engage the many other tricks that have allowed President Barack Obama escape responsibility for his actions, the president is resorting to – THE TRUTH.
Understanding that he was speaking to an audience of one that could not be deflected from the issue of honesty, President Obama, through the Justice Department yesterday, decided to issue an apology to Federal Judge Andrew Hanen for “misleading” him about implementation dates of his illegal Executive Amnesty program.
Some background.
On February 10, the legality of President Obama’s Executive Amnesty came before Federal District Court Judge Andrew S. Hanen for the Southern District of Texas.
The judge heard arguments from 26 states led by Texas that Obama’s Executive Amnesty order was an unconstitutional usurpation of power reserved for Congress to grant or deny amnesty to anyone for any reason.
To allow time for a thoughtful consideration of the arguments raised, Judge Hanen issued an injunction against implementation of the president’s amnesty to prevent irreparable harm to the states.
Despite the order, on April 10, the Obama Administration sent a letter to Congress saying it had already issued approximately 541,000 Social Security numbers (SSN’s) to illegal immigrants under President Obama’s original 2012 deportation amnesty not the amnesty the president tried to implement in 2014.
At the time, many believed that President Obama was playing his usual games with the meanings of words, judicial orders, timelines and amnesty declarations drawing a distinction between the amnesty announced in November and the one he issued in 2012.
Judge Hanen was having none of it and threatened severe sanctions against administration lawyers who may have deliberately misled the judge with respect to the facts of the case when it was originally presented in February.
Fast forward to today and the president’s apology via the Justice Department. Quoting from Breitbart:
“The Government deeply regrets not only the confusion that these statements created, but that it did not recognize the prospect of confusion earlier…but the miscommunications were not the product of bad faith, and they do not warrant sanctions or further discovery.”
The “miscommunications” in question involve the revelation that, despite the government’s assertions that the executive amnesty programs — Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) and expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) — would not start before February 18 (DAPA was scheduled to start in May) an aspect did begin before then.
Days before expanded DACA was set to take effect Hanen issued a preliminary injunction on the executive amnesty programs, to stop the implementation from going forward as the case works its way through the courts.
In early March, however, the Justice Department revealed to Hanen that in fact it had already started to implement an aspect of expanded DACA, and had issued more than 100,000 new three-year DACA renewals.
Hanen was not pleased. In later filings, he called the government misleading, accusing the government of “deceptive representations and half-truths.”
No one believes that President Obama or his mouthpieces at the Department of Justice are sincerely sorry about “misleading” the judge over Executive Amnesty implementation in violation of a federal court order. However, they are sorry for getting caught.
Justice Department lawyers have a duty to the American people, not the president, and are not out of the woods yet. Until the case is decided, it is still within Judge Hanan’s power to refer administration lawyers involved in any alleged deception for disciplinary action and disbarment for cause.
Going forward, Justice Department lawyers need to ask themselves if they are willing to fall on their sword for a president with little regard for them or the law.