President Trump's allies in Congress have filed a new impeachment resolution against a federal judge who blocked the administration from ending protections for Somalis in the U.S.
The resolution, filed by Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., targets Judge Allison Burroughs of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, who issued a stay on Friday temporarily blocking the Trump administration's move to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis.
The TPS program provides safe harbor in the U.S. for people who fled natural disasters or war in their home countries, including Somalia.
Ogles' resolution accuses Burroughs of having "defied the authority of both Federal law and the Supreme Court" by issuing the stay order, despite a Supreme Court ruling in June that curbed lower courts' ability to block TPS decisions.
The judge's order came on an amended complaint by the plaintiffs aiming to account for the Supreme Court's ruling, but Ogles argued that Burroughs was trying to "get around" the ruling by entertaining "spurious allegations" of racial and national-origin discrimination against the administration.
Ogles said, "This judicial activist's obstruction of the people's will must be stopped. Judge Burroughs must be impeached." The impeachment resolution is one of several filed by Trump allies in Congress during the president's second term.
Burroughs was appointed to the bench in 2014 by then-President Barack Obama, and the impeachment resolution marks a new effort to pursue impeachment against what some describe as "activist judges" from the bench.
