Although it represents only a decision to proceed with the case rather than a decision in the case, District Judge Reed O’Connor’s (Northern District of Texas) ruling on Wednesday is a major setback for the Obama administration’s attempt to impose amnesty through executive (in)action.
In particular, as part of a lawsuit filed by ICE agents against the Department of Homeland Security, the judge ruled that, contrary to Janet Napolitano’s assertions, DHS does not have “prosecutorial discretion” to refuse to initiate removal proceedings against illegal immigrants. Existing law “mandates the initiation of removal proceedings whenever an immigration officer encounters an illegal alien who is not “clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be admitted.”
ICE agents have sued their own department of the federal government to compel that deportation proceedings be begun on every deportable illegal alien whom they process, rather than the Obama administration’s aim to refuse to deport certain aliens who were brought here as children.
Although this is not the ruling in the actual case, the ruling seems predictable as the judge says that “Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim.”