An Obama-appointed federal judge just flip-flopped on Somali deportations after a GOP congressman filed impeachment articles against her.
Judge Allison Burroughs, sitting on the bench in Massachusetts, had been standing in the way of the Trump administration's plan to end Temporary Protected Status for Somalia for months. The termination was set to kick in on March 17, but she swooped in just four days prior and slapped an administrative stay on the whole thing. Then Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee decided he had seen enough and according to reports formally introduced impeachment articles against Burroughs for what he called defiance of the Supreme Court's explicit ruling on TPS termination.
Funny how quickly things changed after that.
On Friday, Burroughs did a complete 180. She rejected the plaintiffs' effort to preserve Somalia's TPS designation and yanked her own administrative stay right off the table. Her legal reasoning? The exact same argument conservatives had been screaming about for months. She wrote that TPS beneficiaries only receive future benefits if the Secretary chooses to extend their country's designation, meaning they hold nothing beyond a "unilateral expectation" regarding future eligibility.
Temporary means temporary, folks. Apparently it just took the threat of impeachment to jog her memory.
The racial discrimination claim that plaintiffs had attached to the case also crumbled. Burroughs cited the Supreme Court's Mullin decision and concluded there was no viable path for the plaintiffs to prevail on those grounds. That piece is arguably even bigger than the TPS reversal itself. The playbook from the left has long involved slapping racism accusations onto immigration policies to gum up enforcement in friendly courtrooms for months or even years. The Mullin ruling slammed that door shut, and Burroughs finally got around to acknowledging it.
Ogles was not shy about his reasoning when he filed those impeachment papers. He stated plainly that the Supreme Court had made crystal clear that lower courts cannot suspend TPS, yet an Obama appointee was ignoring both the Constitution and the high court to undermine presidential authority.
The timing here is absolutely wild. Burroughs reversed course shortly after the impeachment articles landed. Whether congressional pressure is the proper tool for reining in district court judges who go rogue is a fair question for legal scholars. But nobody can argue with the bottom line, which is that deportations can now move forward.
Rep. Ilhan Omar had been vocal for months opposing this outcome, labeling the enforcement racist and firing off letters demanding explanations. None of that mattered in the end. Burroughs herself confirmed that TPS holders possess no legally protected interest in their status continuing indefinitely. Ending the designation does not violate due process rights because termination simply means former beneficiaries could potentially face standard immigration enforcement going forward.
The law does not care about your feelings. It applies everywhere, including Massachusetts, and it applies to everyone.
Read more conservative news commentary at: USA Journal News
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