Federal judge Andrew Hanen on Monday ignored the government's request that he lift his hold on President Obama's 2014 immigration actions, instead scheduling a new hearing on the matter for March 19. Jamie Dupree has
the details:
“Due to the seriousness of the matters discussed therein, the Court will not rule on any other pending motions until it is clear that these matters, if true, do not impact the pending matters or any rulings previously made by this court,” wrote Judge Andrew Hanen.
The "matters discussed" appear to refer to the fact that the Obama administration, under the president's 2014 executive action, had given an extension to some undocumented Dreamers who qualified for the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
In a court filing last week, the Obama Administration said 100,000 people here in the U.S. illegally, who had previously qualified for protection under the 2012 DACA order, were given an extension of their protection from deportation, following along the lines of the President’s expanded immigration actions.
That declaration caught the state of Texas – and seemingly Judge Hanen – by surprise, and now has resulted in the Judge asking for more information in a hearing next week.
Government lawyers had threatened to seek a stay on Hanen's injunction from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals if Hanen failed to lift the hold. It was unclear how they would respond to Hanen's latest action.