ALICIA A. CALDWELL, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge asked to rule on the legality of President Barack Obama’s changes to U.S. immigration rules is the same judge who last year criticized the government for being lenient on illegal immigration.

A lawsuit filed by 20 states to block Obama’s plan has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen of Brownsville, Texas. He is one of two judges there and hears half all civil cases filed in the court.

The judge wrote a scathing order last year. In it, he accused the Obama administration of helping fulfill criminal conspiracies to smuggle children across the border by reuniting them with parents living in the country illegally. He wrote the 10-page order at the conclusion of an immigrant smuggling case involving a child immigrant.