By Bill Chappell | National Public Radio
The day before the first of President Obama’s executive actions on immigration were to take effect, the new rules have been put on hold by a federal judge’s ruling in south Texas. U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen said the president overstepped his authority.
In more than 120 pages of court documents issued late Monday, Hanen halted both the new Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents as well as the expansions Obama had planned to make to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
If the executive actions providing legal status to millions of people were to take effect, Hanen wrote, “The genie would be impossible to put back into the bottle.”
The Justice Department will appeal the judge’s temporary injunction, the White House says.
Related: Arizona lawmaker: Immigration injunction puts children’s lives at risk
