Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced Tuesday that the Obama administration would not begin accepting requests for deportation relief on Wednesday as planned.
“The Department of Justice will appeal that temporary injunction; in the meantime, we recognize we must comply with it,” Johnson said about a ruling late Monday by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen that halted President Obama’s executive action on immigration.
The White House had planned to begin on Wednesday the expansion of Obama’s program shielding younger illegal immigrants from deportation. The president’s directive, announced in November, was an extension of a 2012 effort started by the White House for so-called Dreamers.
Democrats are hoping that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans will overturn Hanen’s ruling, allowing Obama’s unilateral move to proceed.
Hanen did not rule on the constitutionality of Obama’s executive action, saying only that Republican-led states should be given the time to pursue a lawsuit before the immigration program is implemented.
Conservatives argue that the Texas judge’s ruling further undermines the White House’s legal defense of the executive action and strengthens their position in a clash over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
