Justice Department fixes work permit error

Florida Republicans break ranksUS district judge Andrew Hanen had ordered federal officials to explain in detail exactly how and why the work permits were sent out in May. He had slammed an injunction on the expansion of deferred action on February 16th after 26 states, led by Texas, launched a lawsuit to try to prevent the president’s executive action going ahead, arguing that it was unconstitutional.

Hanen even told Jeh Johnson, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, that he would hold him in contempt, along with other top immigration officials, if a solution was not found to the problems. On Friday night, however, attorneys for the Justice Department filed court documents saying that the government is now fully in compliance with Hanen’s orders and that the permits sent out after the injunction have either been rescinded completely or reduced from three to two years.

There is a hearing scheduled for August 19th during which federal officials would have had to provide an explanation of the problems and how they were corrected; however, the attorneys have asked for this hearing to be canceled in line with the judge’s promise to do so if the problems had been fixed.