Judge Andrew S. Hanen, of the Federal District Court for the Southern District, issued a preliminary injunction in February 2015, temporarily blocking the provisions of the executive order that would give deportation deferrals to parents of U.S. citizens or legal residents who have been in the U.S. for more than five years and expand a 2012 program to allow people under age 31 who were brought to the U.S. as children to apply for two-year deportation deferrals and work permits. Hanen’s ruling allows the states to pursue a lawsuit to permanently shut down the program, which could potentially prevent the deportation of some 5 million people. The Obama administration halted implementation of the program in light of the ruling and the Justice Department filed an appeal. The White House defended Obama’s action, saying both Congress and the Supreme Court have said that federal officials have discretion in deciding who to deport and therefore Obama was authorized to issue the executive order. “Those policies are consistent with the laws passed by Congress and decisions of the Supreme Court, as well as five decades of precedent by presidents of both parties who have used their authority to set priorities in enforcing our immigration laws,” said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary. In his ruling, Judge Hanen wrote, “The genie would be impossible to put back into the bottle” if the order were implemented.
