What Court Order? DHS Rushing Amnesty Contracts at “Full-Throttle Pace”

UPDATE: Hours after Judicial Watch posted this story, the government cancelled the Request For Proposal (RFP).

Though a federal court has blocked President Obama’s amnesty order the administration continues working behind the scenes to quickly award multi-million-dollar contracts to firms that can expeditiously process millions of illegal immigrants, a government source has alerted Judicial Watch.

The complex deal is being rushed through at a “full-throttle pace” extremely rare for such a huge venture  that’s sure to radically change the current system, according to JW’s source, who has worked for decades as a contract expert at the highest levels of government. The Request For Proposal (RFP) was recently posted in the government’s official database for federal procurement opportunities and comes from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agency charged with processing visa and naturalization petitions, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

The RFP estimates that the population of potential requesters for the president’s deferred action will be “approximately four million people” and that USCIS anticipates the initial filing of “approximately five to six million forms” related to the amnesty order which also covers the illegal immigrant parents of U.S. citizens and lawful residents. The work is to begin in mid-March, the document reveals, and the contractor will operate out of a new center in Arlington, Virginia because there is no current facility with available space or staff to accommodate the “additional volume of work.” The center will be dedicated to processing deferred action for illegal immigrant parents of citizens, employment authorization and correspondence management.

The pricing spreadsheets are astounding and list tens of thousands of work hours—for tasks such as program management, file operations and maintenance as well as Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) scanning—that will undoubtedly end up costing American taxpayers enormous sums. The contractor that lands this monstrous government deal must also be able to respond on short notice to growth in volume due to urgent events and requirements. “The growth is more than normal overtime and cannot be completed with overtime,” the government documents state.

The order issued this week by a federal judge in Texas halts Obama’s highly unpopular plan to shield millions of illegal immigrants from deportation and bans agencies like DHS and USCIS from executing it. The order specifically says that the feds “are hereby enjoined from implementing any and all aspects or phases of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (‘DAPA’) program as set out in the Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson’s memorandum dated November 20.” If DHS violates the injunction it can be charged with contempt, according to legal experts. It’s also entirely possible that such actions would violate the Antideficiency Act as Judicial Watch explains here.

The administration appears to have no intention of slowing down while the Justice Department drafts an appeal. JW’s government source confirms that, even after the court ruling, DHS is moving forward with its plan to seal large contracts with companies that will process millions of illegal immigrants as soon as possible. “There is no indication that the court order has impacted, slowed down or modified the procurement in any way,” the source said. “They’re really rushing into it.” The immense deal calls for 200 to 600 contractors, according to JW’s source.