The Department of Homeland Security has put the brakes on hiring and other efforts to lay the groundwork for executive amnesty in the wake of a federal judge’s injunction on the new programs, according to The Washington Post.
In February U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen halted implementation of President Obama’s November-announced executive amnesty programs — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) — ruling in favor of the 26 states challenging the actions.
Since that February ruling, while the administration has pressed to have the injunction lifted, according to the Post, it has also put hiring plans for the programs on hold, including stopping efforts to hire up to 3,100 new employees who would have worked in a $7.8 million-a-year building in Arlington, Virginia’s Crystal City. The building is largely unused now, DHS employees told The Post.
As the newspaper reports, the administration “immediately began” to implement executive amnesty after Obama announced the actions in November — including leasing that 280,000 Crystal City building to house the new employees that would have been hired to prepare for implementation and begin processing applications for executive amnesty.
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