Judicial Watch Sues DHS for Failure to Turn Over Records

The nonprofit government watchdog group Judicial Watch has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security over records from a February border crisis planning meeting.

Judicial Watch said that it filed the lawsuit after DHS did not respond to a July 1 Freedom of Information Act request that sought records connected to an Enforcement & Removal Operations (ERO) Field Office Juvenile Coordination Meeting held in Washington, D.C., Feb. 25-27.

The original FOIA request sought "schedule, participants training materials, PowerPoint presentations, handouts policies," among other items from the gathering.

Judicial Watch has questioned the federal government's strategy to apprehend unaccompanied minors who have crossed the Southern border illegally. It noted "lack of deterrence" concerns by Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement as families from Central America sent children into the U.S. via illegal smugglers, knowing that they could be reunited with relatives already in the country. More than 50,000 minors have entered the country this year, and a second wave of children attempting to cross the border is anticipated, Judicial Watch noted.

The Obama administration is considering a new 10-point plan for amnesty that could be announced as soon as next week, according to Fox News.

House Republicans in a letter this week are seeking new language in a spending bill that would keep the president from taking executive action on immigration, setting up a new post-midterm battle in Congress, the Washington Times reported.

"The Obama administration is trying to cover up the truth about the border crisis caused by President Obama’s lawless amnesty," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement released Thursday, noting the lawsuit is among several his group has filed "to expose the truth about Obama’s amnesty disaster."

Noted Fitton: "We have little doubt that the Obama administration knew from its own immigration enforcement personnel that its refusal to enforce immigration law was going to cause a border crisis. Yet, rather than secure the border and follow the law, the Obama administration aided and abetted the human trafficking operations that planted hundreds of thousands illegal aliens all over the nation — overwhelming our schools and putting the health and safety of Americans at risk … The DHS is breaking immigration law on orders from this president and is now engaging in illegal secrecy to cover it up."

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