Ignoring the Justice Department's call for a swift ruling, a federal judge in Texas has set a March 19 hearing on actions taken by the Obama Administration to set in motion some of the changes under the President's executive actions on immigration, before a publicly announced start to the program on February 18.
"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.
It was a setback for the Obama Administration, which had threatened to take their request for an emergency stay of the judge's original injunction to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
It was not immediately clear if the Justice Department would follow through on the vow to go to the Fifth Circuit, as Judge Hanen's injunction has left the President's immigration changes on hold.
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.
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