Federal Judge Blocks Obama's Executive Actions On Immigration

The day before the first of President Obama's executive actions on immigration were to take effect, the new rules have been put on hold by a federal judge's ruling in south Texas. Judge Andrew Hanen said the president overstepped his authority.

The Justice Department will appeal the judge's temporary injunction, the White House says.

"The district court's decision wrongly prevents these lawful, commonsense policies from taking effect and the Department of Justice has indicated that it will appeal that decision," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement released Tuesday morning.

The injunction gives 26 states more time to form legal arguments against the actions, which were expected to protect as many as 5 million people who are in the U.S. illegally from being deported. They would also be allowed to apply for work permits.

In the temporary injunction issued Monday, Judge Andrew Hanen of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas halted both the new Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents as well as the changes and expansions Obama had planned to make to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

If the executive actions providing legal status to millions of people were to take effect, Hanen wrote, "The genie would be impossible to put back into the bottle."

Obama announced his plan weeks after last November's midterm elections, saying that he was taking action because Congress hadn't sent him a bill addressing the problems in America's immigration system. Before Monday's ruling, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency had been preparing to begin accepting applications under the new rules.

As member station KUT in Austin reports, the Texas lawsuit against the president's executive orders was initially filed in December by Gov. Greg Abbot, who was then the state's attorney general.

From the station and its partner, the Texas Tribune:

"He accused the president of violating several provisions of the U.S. Constitution, including one that gives Congress jurisdiction over immigration laws. Abbott also argued that Texas would be irreparably harmed by the action. He cited as proof last summer's surge of undocumented immigrants from Central America who entered Texas illegally through the Rio Grande Valley."

Hanen, a nominee of President George W. Bush; he's been in his post since 2002, also noted that there has been a political and national debate over how to handle both legal and illegal immigration. He added, "To date, however, neither the President nor any member of Congress has proposed legislation capable of resolving these issues in a manner that could garner the necessary support to be passed into law."