Can’t hurt to ask, I guess.
The Obama administration has asked a Brownsville-based judge to rethink an order that requires the federal government to turn over the private information of thousands of undocumented immigrants.
The May 19 order from U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen asserted that the federal government’s attorneys intentionally misled the court during proceedings over the Obama admiration’s controversial executive order on immigration, known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents. The court order included instructions for the federal government to provide Hanen a list of the immigrants who benefited prematurely from DAPA.
But in a filing Tuesday, the federal government’s attorneys said providing that list would jeopardize the faith the American people have in one of the government’s largest institutions.
“Requiring (Department of Homeland Security) to produce ‘all personal identifiers’ and ‘all available contact information’ for approximately 50,000 individuals by June 10, 2016, could undermine public trust in DHS’s commitment to protecting the confidential information contained in immigration files and will create a significant burden,” the filing states.
See here for the background. I have no idea how likely a response like this is to sway a judge, much less one who isn’t particularly friendly to your side. But if the point of the order was to get the Justice Department’s attention and change behaviors that the judge found objectionable, then perhaps this is offered as evidence that it had that effect. I guess we’ll find out if that was enough. Think Progress and Daily Kos have more.