Federal Judicial System

ICE and immigration issues have been occupying federal court judges. Here’s a look at some of the latest cases. 

• With Temporary Protective Status (TPS) set to end for Haitian immigrants this week, Biden-nominated Judge Ana Reyes of the District Court for the District of Columbia issued a temporary stay which blocked the administration from ending TPS for some 350,000 Haitians. TPS allows Haitians to live and work legally in the US. Judge Reyes said that she felt that the plaintiffs were likely to prevail in their effort to block the end of TPS and, in unusually stark language, that DHS Secretary Noem made her decision based on “hostility to nonwhite immigrants.”

• Judge Fred Biery, a Clinton nominated judge in the District Court for the Western District of Texas, issued a scathing ruling freeing five-year-old Liam Ramos from immigrant detention. Liam Ramos captured national attention as he stood with his blue bunny hat and spiderman backpack with ICE agents who used him as bait to lure his father into their custody. Judge Biery’s opinion minced no words as he condemned, “... the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”

• Judge Michael Simon, an Obama nominee on the District Court for the District of Oregon, temporarily restricted the use of chemical or projectile munitions against protestors at Portland’s ICE office. A hearing is scheduled for March 2 on this issue. In his decision he wrote: “in a well-functioning constitutional democratic republic, free speech, courageous newsgathering, and nonviolent protest are all permitted, respected, and even celebrated.”

• A three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court ruled that Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools did not violate a substitute teacher’s rights by requiring her to use transgender students’ chosen pronouns. Voting in the majority were Judge Stephanie Thacker (Obama nominated) and Judge Robert King (Clinton nominated). Judge Harvie Wilkinson, a Reagan nominee, dissented. 

• Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotely (Clinton nominee) of the District Court for the District of Columbia struck down part of Trump’s Executive Order mandating that the Department of Defense and federal agencies require proof of citizenship for voting. Her ruling emphasized the importance of the Constitution’s separation of powers in voting.