WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration said Friday that it will ask a judge to allow it to continue with plans to offer protection from deportation to millions of people living in the U.S. illegally.
Department of Justice lawyers plan to file a motion by Monday requesting that a federal judge in Texas stay his order that temporarily blocks President Barack Obama's immigration programs, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
"We believe that when you evaluate the legal merits of the argument, that there is a solid legal foundation for the president to take the steps that he announced late last year to reform our broken immigration system," Earnest said.
He added: "That's consistent with the way that previous presidents over the course of several decades have used their executive authority. And that is why, you know, we are going to continue to pursue this case in the legal system."
If the judge, Andrew Hanen, denies the request, as many legal experts expect, the administration could file an appeal with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and later the U.S. Supreme Court.
Hanen issued the order Monday in a lawsuit filed by Texas and two dozen other states, mostly led by Republicans. They sued to block the president's move last year to use his executive authority to shield from deportation about half of the 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally.
Immigrants who qualify would get a three-year permit to stay in the country.
In his order Monday, Hanen said Obama overstepped his legal authority.
The administration cannot "enact a program whereby it not only ignores the dictates of Congress but actively acts to thwart them," Hanen ruled.
But he based his injunction on narrow legal grounds, saying that the underlying constitutional issues needed a full hearing and that his ruling would preserve the status quo in the meantime.
The decision by Hanen, who has a record of rulings critical of what he views as lax immigration enforcement, created a stumbling block for the administration's plans.
The first piece of the immigration program was due to roll out this past week but has been put on hold. The biggest part of the program, which would cover up to 4 million adults who've been in the country since 2010, was scheduled to open to applicants in May.
Despite the ruling, Obama made it clear that the administration would press ahead with preparations for the immigration programs, which include the hiring of thousands of workers to process an expected rush of applications.
"We are doing the preparatory work because this is a big piece of business," Obama told reporters this week. "We want to make sure as soon as these legal issues get resolved, which I anticipate they will in our favor, that we are ready to go."
In addition to trying to quickly halt the judge's injunction, White House officials said Friday, administration lawyers would soon file an appeal on the substance of the judge's ruling. Earnest said the administration's broader legal strategy in fighting challenges to the president's executive actions on immigration would depend in part on the results of the appeals.
"Once we have taken additional steps through this legal process, we may be in position to give you an update about the status of implementing the program," Earnest said. "Obviously, some of this will depend on the way that the question of the state is resolved."
Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress also are fighting to stave off another assault on the executive actions, this one from Republican leaders who are trying to use a bill to fund the Homeland Security Department to block the immigration executive actions. The measure passed the House but ran into Democratic opposition in the Senate.
Lawmakers on both sides have vowed not to back down in the standoff; the funding for the department, which handles all border and customs enforcement, runs out Feb. 28.
Information for this article was contributed by Joseph Tanfani of Tribune News Service and by Michael D. Shear of The New York Times.
A Section on 02/21/2015