By Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald
In a hearing that highlighted the increasing pressure the federal judiciary is facing in high-stakes immigration cases, a Washington, D.C., judge on Thursday declined to reverse her decision that blocked the Trump administration from ending immigration protections for more than 300,000 Haitians.
“I am denying the government’s motion to stay,” U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes said.
The judge said she would issue a written order in time for an appellate court to hear the government’s appeal. The government, in an unusual move last week, appealed both to the appellate court and to Reyes herself, asking her to reverse her decision. The federal appeals court has given lawyers representing the Department of Homeland Security until April 19 to provide briefs.
After delivering her decision, Reyes said she wanted to address what had followed after her Feb. 2 ruling pausing the termination of Haiti’s temporary protected status designation. The ruling gave a temporary reprieve to more than 300,000 Haitians, who would have faced the loss of their right to continuing living and working in the United States, leaving them vulnerable to deportation back to Haiti.
“I do feel compelled to clarify a couple of misconceptions,” Reyes said as she went on to list some of the accusations some people have made about her, and the threats she has received.
Yes, she is an immigrant herself, she said. No, she did not hide that fact from any of the agencies tasked with investigating her, including the White House, the FBI or the Senate Judiciary Committee when she was nominated to the federal bench by President Joe Biden.
Reyes, who was born in Uruguay and came to the U.S. as a child, said she didn’t mind the messages that referred to her as “illiterate,” even as they failed to note she graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and spent 22 years litigating high-profile federal issues. What she does object to, Reyes said, are the death threat against her that have been posted on social media and sent to her email.
Death threats
“I hope you die today,” she said, reading from a lengthy email. “Enjoy choking on your tongue.”
On social media others called for the hanging of judges, while using other offensive adjectives to refer to her.
It is common for judges these days to receive such threats, Reyes said, and some have received even worse. But she added that, like her colleagues on the bench, she will not stop from upholding the law, acting without fear and favor.
“To those who disagree with me, I say ‘Thank you,’” Reyes said. “Judges should be questioned, the politicians should be questioned. I welcome the government’s appeal because appellate courts are a necessary part of the democratic system.”
But for those who threaten judges, Reyes said, “We will not be intimidated.”
Her remarks came after a contentious hearing in which she made clear she would not reverse her earlier order. Throughout the proceedings, she sharply questioned the government’s lawyer. In one exchange, lawyers for the five Haitian plaintiffs in the case told her that some TPS holders were having difficulties renewing their driver’s licenses, because federal systems showed that their protections had expired.
When she questioned the government’t lawyer, Reyes issued a stern warning after he told her the administration was trying to “avoid mass confusion,” since the case is on appeal.
She told government lawyers she is not “one of those judges who is going to sit around and wait for you all to violate court order after court order. There will be serious consequences.”
Frustrated judges
The Trump administration has increasingly encountered resistance in federal court as it seeks to advance its mass deportation agenda, with some judges expressing frustration both at what they view as disregard for their rulings and at how government lawyers have characterized those decisions.
Thursday’s hearing was no exception. Reyes pressed the government on its claim that it would suffer “irreparable harm” if it were not allowed to end TPS for Haitians.
She questioned the government’s interpretation of her initial order in their appeal, and she pushed back on an administration attempt to compare her to President Biden’s handing of immigration benefits to a broad group of immigrants.
“That Biden decision is not in front of me,” Reyes said, adding that the comparison was “legally meaningless.”
She also stressed that if she were to stay her decision and a higher court were to later rule in favor of the Haitian plaintiffs, those deported to Haiti would have no legal path to return to the U.S. She also criticized the administration for what she said was a misleading interpretation of her ruling, in which she said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had failed to follow the law and consult with other agencies before deciding to end TPS for Haitians.
“My determination is Congress required her to consult with appropriate agencies, and she did not consult with any agency, including the Department of State,” she said.
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