The White House will seek an emergency stay to fight back against a recent decision by a Texas federal judge who ruled earlier this week against the Obama administration’s immigration plans, a spokesperson for the president said.
Lawyers with the United States Department of Justice will soon file an injunction on President Barack Obama’s behalf in an attempt to stay the recent court order, Josh Earnest, the press secretary for the White House, told reporters during a briefing on Friday.
If it goes unchallenged, the order will stop the administration’s plans to defer deportations for up to 5 million people who are in the US illegally.
"We will seek that appeal because we believe when you evaluate the legal merits of the arguments, that there is a solid legal foundation for the president to take the steps he announced last year to help reform our immigration system,” Earnest said, according to The Hill.
On Monday, US District Judge Andrew S. Hanen ruled that the Obama administration’s plan to let illegal immigrants stay within America’s borders “does not represent mere inadequacy,” but, rather, “is complete abdication.”
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“The [Department of Homeland Security] was not given any ‘discretion by law’ to give 4.3 million removable aliens what the DHS itself labels as ‘legal presence,’” Judge Hanen wrote. “In fact, the law mandates that these illegally-present individuals be removed. The DHS has adopted a new rule that substantially changes both the status and employability of millions. These changes go beyond mere enforcement or even non-enforcement of this nation’s immigration scheme.”
Now, according to Earnest, the Justice Department will file their challenge by "Monday at the latest."
Earlier this week, Obama told reporters that he expected an effort to appeal from the administration would be successful.
“With respect to the ruling ... I disagree with it," he said, according to Reuters. "I think the law is on our side and history is on our side."