White House press secretary Josh Earnest announced Friday that the Justice Department will request a stay no later than Monday to restart Obama’s executive action halting the deportation of up to 5 million illegal immigrants:
“I would anticipate that they will file documents at the district court level on Monday at the latest,” Obama’s top spokesman told reporters.
If granted the stay, the White House program to offer additional deportation relief, announced after the November midterm elections, would proceed as planned.
Separately, the Obama administration will file a broader appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans over U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen’s ruling halting Obama’s unilateral action.
The stay would allow the implementation of the immigration program until the panel of judges makes a final ruling on the Justice Department’s appeal. Typically, such a ruling would take a few weeks but could be expedited since the program was slated to go into effect.
Obama’s executive action was temporarily suspended Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen so that a coalition of 26 states could purse legal action against the order.
