It’s a long way to temporary

One of the Lilliputian judges tying down President Trump’s efforts to undo the Biden flood of immigrants, legal, illegal, and perhaps somewhere in between is San Francisco’s Edward Chen. Judge Chen is a senior federal judge appointed to the bench by President Obama. You don’t need a little birdie to whisper in your ear that forum shopping might have had something to do with the venue selected by plaintiffs to file the case challenging the Trump administration’s effort to curtail the temporary protected status extended by the Biden administration to a Twin Cities-size contingent of Venezuelans.

As I understand it, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem seeks to move up the expiration or reconsider the “temporary protected status” of some 600,000 Venezuelans. The Washington Post previews the legal assault on Noem’s action in the Washington Post story “Trump scales back Biden-era TPS extension for Haitian migrants.”

This case seems to have flown somewhat under the radar. It caught my attention via the Politico story “Judge blocks Trump effort to curtail deportation protections for 600,000 Venezuelans.” Subhead: “The Trump administration’s decision-making is a ‘classic example of racism,’ the judge wrote.” It may be premature to hazard the thought that Judge Chen can go to hell, but it occurred to me.

Here are the last few paragraphs of the linked Politico story:

vChen suggested that data show Venezuelans on temporary protected status are largely law-abiding, taxpaying, educated and employed, undercutting the Trump administration’s rationale for ending the protections.

In particular, the judge objected to the administration’s claim that the threats from the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua justified the removal of TPS protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan nationals.

“The Secretary’s rationale is entirely lacking in evidentiary support,” Chen wrote. “There is no evidence that Venezuelan TPS holders are members of the TdA gang, have connections to the gang, and/or commit crimes. Venezuelan TPS holders have lower rates of criminality than the general population. Generalization of criminality to the Venezuelan TPS population as a whole is baseless and smacks of racism predicated on generalized false stereotypes.”

Chen also questioned the administration’s suggestion that the decision was rooted in national security, noting that the arrangement required the Trump administration to negotiate directly with Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolas Maduro, potentially normalizing his regime.

“It is hard to discern precisely what the U.S. interest is in this instance,” Chen wrote.

The ACLU Southern California must have a hand in the case. It touts Judge Chen’s order granting a preliminary injunction in a press release that links to the 78-page Order Granting Plaintiffs’ Motion to Postpone.

I can’t comment on Judge Chen’s legal analysis except to say I seriously doubt it. It is full of leftist shibboleths that recall the attacks on Trump’s “travel ban” along with judicial second-guessing of judgments committed to the authority of the executive branch. It reminds me of the time I was caught in the net of the “travel ban” litigation, an experience I recounted in “Don’t subpoena me, bro.” Don’t give me PTSD, bro.