Judge Stephen Reinhardt couldn’t find a way to legally justify keeping Andres Magana Ortiz in the United States, but he made sure to let the defendants and the public know he was torn up about it. Put in the impossible position of enforcing U.S. immigration law, Reinhardt ruled in favor of the Department of Homeland Security while saving plenty of vitriol of the evil Trump administration in his statement of assent.
The case before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals – the same court that originally blocked President Trump’s Middle East travel ban – was one where immigration officials wished to deport Magana Ortiz, an illegal immigrant with two DUI convictions. The immigrant, who is married to an American citizen, was asking for the court to block his deportation – a request Reinhardt and his liberal colleagues could not grant.
“We are unable to prevent Magana Ortiz’s removal, yet it is contrary to the values of this nation and its legal system,” whined Reinhardt. “We are compelled to deny Mr. Magana Ortiz’s request for a stay of removal because we do not have the authority to grant it. We are not, however, compelled to find the government’s action in this case fair or just.”
So wait. You can’t legally prevent his removal, but his deportation is contrary to our country’s legal system? How exactly does that work? Is our country’s “legal system” just a concept in your mind that you adjust as you see fit? That would explain your court’s ruling in the travel ban case, certainly.
Reinhardt, who knew this decision would get him some sneers at the next country club luncheon, poured his heart into the rest of his virtue-signaling missive.
“The government’s decision to remove Magana Ortiz diminishes not only our country but our courts, which are supposedly dedicated to the pursuit of justice,” he wrote. “Magana Ortiz and his family are in truth not the only victims. Among the others are judges who, forced to participate in such inhumane acts, suffer a loss of dignity and humanity as well. I concur as a judge, but as a citizen I do not.”
Yes, but frankly, no one asked your opinion as a citizen. The law is the law, and we should be thankful to have a president who actually enforces that law. If Judge Reinhardt wants to change that law, he should write an editorial for the local paper instead of ruling as the law compels him to and then crying about it in the official opinion.
