Texas Judge Orders DOJ to ID More than 100K Undocumented Aliens

U.S.-Mexico border in the city of Nogales, Arizona.

A federal judge from Texas has just ordered the Department of Justice to disclose the ID info of thousands of undocumented immigrants that received federal protections and temporary work permits under a controversial executive order.

Between 2014 and 2015, 108,000 illegal immigrants benefited from work permits in the U.S. under a federal program challenged in the nation’s courts as unconstitutional by 26 states.

The federal program was very similar to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program except that work permits were granted for a three-year period not two.

This week, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, who had put on hold Obama’s executive action to expand DACA, ordered the DOJ to hand over the names, addresses, e-mails and other identification data of the immigrants that benefited from the 2014 immigration program.

While the nation’s highest court is now pondering on the constitutionality of the said executive actions, Judge Hanen is questioning DOJ attorneys’ moves in his court where more than two dozen states first sued Obama administration over the immigration reforms.

The federal judge is especially interested in the DACA recipients that received work permits in the states which sued the Obama administration. He now wants a full list with the personal info of these recipients from the hands of DOJ lawyers themselves.

The list should also contain the dates when the immigrants received or had their permits renewed and the immigrants’ A numbers, or special identification numbers for undocumented aliens.

The Justice Department must hand over the list by June 10, but the document will remain sealed until a Supreme Court ruling. In the meantime, any of the 26 states involved in the trial can request a partial disclosure of the list if they prove that they need the info to prevent harm within their borders.

The DOJ already has the full list as the Obama administration’s immigration programs have sought to identify undocumented immigrants who are valuable for the communities they live in and shield them from deportation.

It is unclear, thought, what would state authorities do with the info on that list. Critics say that the decision would just add extra pressure on undocumented immigrants who are already concerned that Donald Trump will deport them all if he gets elected president.

Image Source: Wikimedia