Texas District Judge Reed O’Connor

Meet District Judge Reed O’Connor, a federal judge in Texas who was appointed by former President George W. Bush in 2007.  You can learn more about him in the Robing Room (a place where judges are judged), and you will find that O’Conner is somewhat sub-standard receiving only a 4.1 grade out of 10.  Yesterday he indicated he was likely to block President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) process.

According to David Leopold — past President of AILA: “…the order, written by Judge Reed O’Connor, came in a lawsuit challenging DACA and prosecutorial discretion filed by nativist lawyer and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach on behalf of ICE Union Boss Christopher Crane. The judge found that the DACA process, which gives eligible DREAMERs a temporary reprieve from deportation, likely, violates the law…”

What are the implications of Judge O’Conner blocking the DACA process?

For starters — we know that Mexican-Americans are already livid with Texas Republican lawmakers who are trying to implement anti-Latino laws, and it is creating quite the stir — particularly in south Texas.

2016 Presidential hopeful via  Jeb Bush already has concerns with regard to Texas.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush tells Joe Hagan of New York magazine: “It’s a math question. Four years from now, Texas is going to be a so-called blue state. Imagine Texas as a blue state, how hard it would be to carry the presidency or gain control of the Senate.”

Hagan starts the article for New York magazine with this idea that  Texas’ rapidly changing demographic will unfavorably affect the Republican party.  He writes:

“Sitting down across from me, [Jeb] assumes his role as party Cassandra, warning of the day when the Republicans’ failure to tap an exploding Hispanic population will cripple its chances at reclaiming power—starting in Texas, the family seat of the House of Bush.”

DREAM Act students weep at the failure of the 2010 DREAM Act vote.  Most Republicans voted against it fueling Latin voting support behind President Obama in 2012.

DREAM Act students are well educated students who know no other way except the American way.  They have pledged allegiance to our United States flag, and they want to contribute their much needed talents and taxes that could only ease the burdens of existing American tax payers.

If this Texas Judge blocks the DACA process, there will be a Mexican-American / Latin backlash like never before.  And the backlash will occur because the Republican National Committee failed to control the bigotry that stinks amongst their political ranks.  Nativist Republicans like Kansas Sec. of State Kris Kobach are destroying the Republican Party with their bigotry faster than a raging sagebrush  fire that sits on top of a Texas oil field.

The burning questions are:

Why are the birthers and nativists using a plaintiff who lives in the State of Utah?  Why didn’t Kobach choose Utah to submit his lawsuit.  Why Texas?   Plaintiff Christopher L. Crane is an ICE Deportation Officer who earns his salary by detaining and deportingimmigrants.  

David A. Martin makes an interesting observation with regard to Kansas Sec. of State in the Yale Law Journal:

The suit relies primarily on a superficially attractive and syllogistically neat statutory theory that Kobach first trumpeted in TV appearances and op-eds shortly after DACA was announced in June.⁶ Under Kobach’s theory, virtually every time an ICE agent encounters unauthorized aliens, he or she has a duty under federal law—with which no supervisor can interfere—to place the aliens into formal removal proceedings. The same argument has also been picked up by congressional opponents of DACA.⁷ But the argument’s central reasoning is legally erroneous. The theory takes out of context a provision Congress enacted in 1996, marries it with a misunderstanding of two provisions that have been in place for decades, and ignores the actual practice under those provisions.  READ MORE>>>

I do not know the final outcome with regard to this Texas case (where the plaintiff lives in the State of Utah), but I do know that there will be grave political consequences and unprecedented political collateral damage for the Republican Party once more and more Mexican-Americans find out that this judge was appointed by a former Republican President of the brother (via Jeb Bush) who wants to run for President in 2016.

Where is the leadership of RNC Chairman Reince Preibus?  Meanwhile, “Hispanic” / Cuban Republican Texas Senator Cruz is still missing in action with regard to legal immigration reform even though Texas shares 64% of the border with our trade ally and neighboring country of Mexico.

Incredible isn’t it?

The 3 Bushes. Former President George W. Bush appointed the Texas Federal Judge who wants to block Obama’s DACA that helps DREAM Act students.

(Above) President Shirl Mora James with (R) Chuck Hagel who was recently nominated as Sec. of Defense

From Bloomberg BusinessWeek:

    A court challenge by federal immigration agents seeking to block President Barack Obama’s deferred-deportation initiative will probably succeed, a judge said.  U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Dallas today put off his own decision on whether to grant the request for a preliminary injunction by 10 U.S. Immigration and Customs agents. He asked both sides to file additional arguments no later than May 6.

Announced by Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano last year, the directive gives agents the ability to defer action on people unlawfully in the U.S. if they came to the country under the age of 16, are in school or have obtained a high school diploma, haven’t been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor or multiple misdemeanors, and aren’t a threat to public safety or national security.

Shirl Mora James, President of Somos Independents who is a Civil Rights and Immigration lawyer believes the Texas case is influenced by xenophobia.

It is a special kind of xenophobia to drive lawsuits across the nation directed against mainly brown Spanish speaking immigrants, I seriously wonder if Kobach would be suing Napolitano in Texas, if the immigrants in question were blonde and blue-eyed!

My sentiments exactly.

In fact, I am waiting for media to go to the Texas “Hispanic” / Cuban Republican Senator Ted Cruz who has had family benefit from the Cuban privileged amnesty.  Where is Cruz at?  Just because he is of Cuban descent means nothing to me.  The majority of his constituents are of Mexican descent and last time I checked — Mexican-Americans make up almost 70% of the Latino population pie.

Keep in mind that people at one point and time in our history were fighting to keep Cuban immigrant Elian Gonzalez in our Nation, but when one of our own DREAM Act kids via  Texas Joaquin Luna commits suicide — those same people are nowhere to be found.

Kris Kobach has a history, too, with being affiliated to groups who have white nationalist ties to the John Tanton Network.

From the Southern Poverty Law Center on Kobach:

I believe giving credit where credit is due.  Thank you, Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva, for doing this!

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s legacy is SB 1070.

Glad to see leadership in the states bordering Mexico.  If you ask me … the answer to the broken immigration system will come from our Representatives who know and understand the problems associated with the broken immigration system. Leadership needs to arise from those who have hurt  — particularly when Mexican nationals are the majority who have been deported.  It is my hope to see Raul get behind Joaquin Castro’s immigration plan he is taking to Washington D.C. since Texas shares most of the burden associated with the broken immigration system.

A quick snapshot of the bordering states and why leadership needs to come from the states that border Mexico:

Texas: 1,255 miles/64% of border length and has 24 ports of entry

Arizona: 354 miles/18% of border length and has 8 ports of entry

New Mexico: 180 miles/9% and has 3 ports of entry

California: 165 miles/8% of border length and 6 ports of entry

Just in:

Raul Grijalva steps up his game in Arizona

Grijalva Calls on Brewer to Reverse Stance, Allow ‘Deferred Action’ Beneficiaries Driver’s Licenses After New Federal Rule Released

Tuesday January 22, 2013

California Chicano leader via Antonio Villaraigosa is right … the time is now for immigration reform.

The Democrats cannot afford for the 2nd amendment issue to take political capital away from the broken immigration system and we appreciate seeing Mexican-American leaders such as Villaraigosa chime in on this.  We don’t want to see the 2nd amendment issue take political capital away the way that Health Care did under Obama’s first term.

Federal politics and policies will fix what is broken locally. The Immigration issue is a federal issue under the Supremacy Clause.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa On Immigration Reform: ‘The Time Is Now’ (VIDEO)

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged Congress and President Obama to move now on comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to full citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged Congress and President Obama to move now on comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to full citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

“The time is now. We can’t wait another political season to pass comprehensive immigration reform,” he said on CBS’ “Face The Nation” Sunday. “We can’t do this piecemeal, and we can’t have a second-class citizenship. This has to be a full pathway to citizenship.”

The mayor went on to call immigration reform a moral and economic imperative. “If we bring these people — 11 million people — out of the dark and into the light, it’s about a $1.5 trillion impact to the U.S. economy,” he said. “The DREAMers alone — a $329 million impact.”

Villaraigosa will deliver this message to Washington Monday with a speech at the National Press Club luncheon on immigration reform.  FULL STORY>>>