U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen issued an injunction yesterday against programs announced by President Obama last November that would shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation. Led by Texas, twenty-six states are suing the federal government over the programs, arguing that President Obama had acted beyond the boundaries of his legal authority and that the programs would create significant new costs for states. In a statement, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said, “This injunction makes it clear that the president is not a law unto himself, and must work with our elected leaders in Congress and satisfy the courts in a fashion our Founding Fathers envisioned.” Thirteen states, the District of Columbia, 33 mayors, and the Conference of Mayors have filed an amicus brief in support of the federal government.
In a 123-page opinion that accompanied the injunction, Judge Hanen did not rule on the legality of the programs, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) and the expansion of Obama’s 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). However, he wrote that, by failing to provide the notice-and-comment period customary in federal rulemaking, the administration did not meet the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. He also noted that the injunction was needed to make time for a full trial on the case. “There will be no effective way of putting the toothpaste back in the tube” if the program were to start before a final ruling, he wrote. The government was due to begin receiving applications for the expanded DACA program on Wednesday.
The White House has indicated that it will appeal the decision at the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A statement released by the White House early today said, “The district court’s decision wrongly prevents these lawful, common-sense policies from taking effect and the Department of Justice has indicated that it will appeal that decision.” The administration is also widely expected to seek an emergency stay of the injunction, though it is unlikely that a stay will be granted before the application phase of the DACA expansion was due to begin.
Meanwhile, Congress is currently dead-locked over attempts by Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives to make the rollback of Obama’s executive actions on immigration a condition for funding the Department of Homeland Security. The department’s current funding expires on February 27.
