Homeland Security has revoked 22 Dreamers’ amnesties, but officials would not say this weekend whether that means they will be actively deported or whether they will be allowed to remain in the U.S. without the ability to work.
The amnesties were revoked as the department tried to clean up the mess it left months ago when it broke a federal court’s order and issued three-year deportation amnesties even after Judge Andrew S. Hanen issued an injunction halting the entire program.
Homeland Security officials had gone door to door to try to collect the last of the 2,600 wrongly issued three-year work permits, and in most cases were able to exchange them for two-year permits, which are legal under President Obama’s 2012 amnesty that granted “deferred action” from deportation to Dreamers.
But in 22 cases, the illegal immigrant Dreamers either couldn’t be found or wouldn’t turn over their three-year documents. Officials had to cancel their amnesties altogether, following through on a harsh punishment they had promised Judge Hanen after he called their efforts “cavalier.”
With their deferred action status revoked, the 22 now could be deported. Homeland Security gave no indication this weekend about whether the department would follow through on the deportations.
The department, in court filings late Friday, also acknowledged that it found another 50 or so cases in which Dreamers were issued three-year amnesties. Officials said they were scrambling to figure out how to handle those.
Homeland Security also agreed to turn over sensitive information on those it converted from three-year amnesties to two-year permits. That information will give the 26 states that sued to stop the amnesty a chance to decide whether to take action against the illegal immigrants, such as canceling or changing their driver’s licenses.
Immigrant rights groups have protested the revocations, saying illegal immigrant Dreamers shouldn’t be punished because of the government’s own mistake.
The back-and-forth is part of the case that has blocked Mr. Obama’s amnesty expansion, announced Nov. 20 and designed to carve an additional 4 million illegal immigrant parents out of any danger of deportation. Under Mr. Obama’s plan, they were to be awarded three-year work permits and Social Security numbers so they could remain in the country under tentative legal status.
Part of the plan also expanded his 2012 amnesty for Dreamers, or young adult illegal immigrants, from two to three years.
Texas and 25 other states sued, and Judge Hanen issued an injunction in February halting the entire expansion, finding that it could be unconstitutional and ruling that it is likely illegal because the president skipped the usual public notice and comment steps required for any major policy change.
The case turned messy in March, however, when Homeland Security reported that it already had approved more than 108,000 three-year amnesties for Dreamers from November until the Feb. 16 injunction. The department then reported that it approved about 2,600 other applications even after the injunction, drawing the judge’s ire.
Homeland Security insists that it is acting in good faith and said the fact that it’s still finding and alerting the court to more instances where it broke the injunction is proof of its intentions.
“DHS has once again proven itself capable of self-monitoring and self-correcting any potential issues regarding compliance,” administration attorneys said in their filing with the court.
It’s the third separate set of violations Homeland Security has had to report to the court.
USCIS didn’t respond over the weekend to a request for comment on how the additional 50 or applications were discovered.
Judge Hanen imposed a July 31 deadline for cleaning up all of the 2,600 previously known violations of his injunction and said if he is not satisfied, he would demand that Secretary Jeh Johnson appear in his courtroom this month to answer for the matter.
Faced with that, the administration kicked into high gear, sending officers door to door to either demand back the three-year amnesties or else a promise from the illegal immigrants that the cards had been lost or destroyed and couldn’t be returned.
The department said if Dreamers refused to comply, they would have their permits revoked outright.
Advocacy groups protested that move. The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda said it amounted to “punishing Dreamers for a bureaucratic error made by the government,” and called it “cruel.”
In the end, Dreamers returned or asserted that they had lost, damaged, or never received their amnesties in 2,610 cases. Another 22 Dreamers weren’t able to satisfy officials, and did have their permits revoked, Homeland Security said in its court filing.
The Obama administration has appealed Judge Hanen’s injunction, which was upheld by a federal appeals court. A second appeals court ruling is expected soon, though the president’s attorneys had a rough time at the oral argument session in July, and immigrant rights advocates are bracing for another loss.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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