A Department of Homeland Security memo of an off-the-record meeting shows that President Barack Obama's administration is considering defying a federal judge's injunction against issuing work permits to illegal immigrants, Ian M. Smith writes at
The Hill.
Smith, an investigative associate with the Immigration Reform Law Institute which has filed briefs in the legal cases attempting to stop Obama's "executive amnesty," writes that the memo appears to have been written as a follow-up to DHS's "Regulations Retreat" in June.
The retreat was held four months after Texas federal judge Andrew Hanen ordered a freeze on the work permits, known as an Employment Authorization Document (EAD).
"From a memo recording these discussions, we now know that the Obama DHS has, rather than pausing to allow the courts to assess the constitutionality of its enforcement nullification initiatives, been gearing up to roll out one or more of four plans drawn up at the meeting, each one designed to provide EADs to millions of nonimmigrants, including those lawfully present and visa overstayers, crippling the actual employment-based visa system on the federal statute-book," Smith writes.
The four options range from providing EADs to "all individuals living in the United States," including illegal aliens, visa-overstayers, and H-1B guest-workers, to only those on certain unexpired non-immigrant visas, he said.
But, giving EADs to anyone on that is a "direct violation of Congress's Immigration & Nationality Act and works to dramatically subvert our carefully wrought visa system," Smith writes.
The memo says the immigrants affected still will "face difficulties in pursuing permanent residence due to ineligibility or being subject to unlawful presence inadmissibility for which a waiver is required," Smith notes because an EAD is not a green card and they would eventually need to "adjust their status."
That currently cannot be done without showing lawful status, but that rule might change, according to the memo.
"The DHS 'macro-level policy goal,' we’re told, is to assist individuals to stay 'until they are ready and able to become immigrants,'" Smith writes. "This would seem to say that DHS, the largest federal law enforcement agency in the nation, is banking on awarding those who’ve broken our laws and violated our national sovereignty."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.