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 In a setback to the president, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in
Brownsville, a city along the Texas border with Mexico, issued a
temporary court order on Monday stopping Obama's executive actions
that bypassed a gridlocked Congress.
Hanen's action left in disarray U.S. policy toward the roughly 11
million people in the country illegally.
Obama said he disagreed with the ruling and expected his
administration to prevail once the issue made its way through the
courts.
"The law is on our side and history is on our side," Obama told
reporters in the Oval Office.
The president said the administration will comply with the judge's
order and delay accepting applications from some of the illegal
immigrants for deportation relief and work permits that had been set
to begin on Wednesday.
"We will be prepared to implement this fully as soon as the legal
issues get resolved," Obama said. He urged Congress to pass
legislation to reform the U.S. immigration system more broadly.
 Obama said the Justice Department will appeal Hanen's preliminary
injunction to the majority conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals in New Orleans. Hanen has previously issued other opinions
critical of the Obama administration’s enforcement of immigration
laws.
Hanen's preliminary injunction is not a ruling on the merits of the
lawsuit filed by 26 states, led by Republican bastions such as
Texas.
The judge issued his opinion amid a fight in the Republican-led U.S.
Congress over legislation passed by the House of Representatives to
allow funding for the Department of Homeland Security only if
Obama's immigration actions were nullified. The department is
charged with securing U.S. borders, airports and coastal waters.
Neither Republicans nor Democrats showed signs of backing down,
especially with the court order being a preliminary one.
The judge hemmed in Obama's exertion of executive power on Nov. 20
that has drawn the ire of Republican elected officials who say he
exceeded his constitutional authority.
"President Obama abdicated his responsibility to uphold the United
States Constitution when he attempted to circumvent the laws passed
by Congress via executive fiat, and Judge Hanen’s decision rightly
stops the president’s overreach in its tracks," said Republican
Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
DEPORTATION RELIEF
Obama's executive orders would let up to 4.7 million illegal
immigrants stay without threat of deportation. It was aimed mainly
at helping 4.4 million people whose children are U.S. citizens or
legal permanent residents.
About 270,000 people would be able to stay under the expansion of a
2012 program that offered deportation relief to people brought
illegally to the United States as children, allowing them work. That
expansion had been set to begin on Wednesday.
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Immigration lawyers said many applicants for deportation relief
under Obama’s order had already filed paperwork and the required
$465 fee ahead of the beginning of the first stage of the executive
action. They now must decide whether to withdraw their applications
and be refunded, or continue in hopes the injunction is overturned.
Obama's administration billed his moves as the biggest immigration
policy shift since 1986 changes passed under President Ronald
Reagan. Immigration policy is certain to become an important topic
in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Most of the illegal immigrants in the United States come from Mexico
and other Latin American countries. Guatamala, Honduras, El Salvador
and Mexico said they were disappointed with the Texas judge's order.
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said Obama's moves provided "a just
migration solution for millions of families and could reinforce the
significant contributions of Mexican migrants to the American
economy and society."
The judge wrote that the administration had not complied with
procedures needed for putting into effect Obama's immigration moves,
which he made after House Republicans blocked bipartisan immigration
legislation passed by the Senate in 2013.
In his opinion, Hanen wrote that "the states have clearly proven a
likelihood of success on the merits" of the case. Hanen wrote it was
"disingenuous" for the administration to maintain Obama's actions
merely "supplements and amends" current policy.
"It represents a massive change in immigration practice, and will
have a significant effect on, not only illegally present immigrants,
but also the nation's entire immigration scheme and the states who
must bear the lion's share of its consequences," Hanen wrote.
Republicans argue that Obama often has overstepped his presidential
authority in areas also including U.S.-Cuba policy and changes in
his signature healthcare law.
In aiming to thwart Obama's moves on immigration, they risk further
alienating Hispanic voters and being accused of interfering with
counterterrorism efforts by holding up money for homeland security.
Republicans say there will be no interruption in the homeland
security agency's critical protective missions.
(Additional reporting by David Lawder, Julia Edwards, Susan Heavey
in Washington, Mica Rosenberg in New York and Sofia Menchú in
Guatemala City)
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