What’s the federal government to do when its plans for amnesty for illegal immigrants are rejected by the general public? If it’s the Obama administration, it goes ahead and does it anyway, and then denies the truth to the public, Congress and the news media.

Last summer, it was revealed an increasing number of illegal immigration deportation cases were being dismissed, apparently with the approval of the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). When the Senate began investigating last fall, ICE officials downplayed its involvement in the issue, saying it was only approving dismissals for a small number of immigrants who fit rigorous criteria.

But the truth has a way of coming out. An investigation by the Houston Chronicle revealed today the Houston ICE office actually ordered its immigration attorneys to file dismissals for any immigrants who didn’t meet the agency’s “top priorities.” And these orders appear to have been given the green-light by Washington ICE officials:

[Houston ICE chief counsel Gary L.] Goldman sent out a memo dated Aug. 12 to all his attorneys, ordering them to consider filing motions to dismiss cases that did not meet with the agency’s top priorities. He also created a task force of attorneys to conduct a review of thousands of files on Houston’s immigration court docket to determine whether they merited dismissal, the memo shows.

Moments after Goldman emailed the memo to his staff in Houston, he forwarded it to ICE leadership in Washington. Riah Ramlogan, then the acting field director for the ICE’s legal office at agency headquarters, replied: “Outstanding, Gary,” and asked him to share details of the local effort on the next national conference call for top ICE attorneys.

Most damning for the administration is the wide range of illegal immigration cases that apparently met the criteria for dismissal. The documents reveal attorneys were even encouraged to file dismissals for illegal immigrants with prior criminal records:

However, the newly released documents show conclusively that government attorneys in Houston were given wide latitude to file motions to dismiss cases, including some involving immigrants with convictions for primarily misdemeanor offenses.

This could have the makings of a major scandal for the Obama administration, especially since Sen. John Cornyn, ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on immigration, has indicated he’s interested in investigating the case further.