Obama Expected to Appeal Immigration Ruling Today

The Obama administration’s bid to set aside a Texas judge’s order that derailed its immigration reform plans may pivot on a narrow finding that policy makers failed to follow federal rules for drawing up new guidelines.

At the request of 26 states, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, whose courthouse sits in the Texas border town of Brownsville, blocked the new program late Monday. It would have let as many as 5 million people who illegally entered the country avoid deportation.

The U.S. Justice Department may decide Friday to ask that the ruling be put on hold as it appeals it, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The states sued the federal government last year after Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson issued a series of memoranda to those agencies responsible for immigration matters. The memos established new deferred-action policies enabling some undocumented immigrants to remain in the U.S. and apply for work permits and some government benefits.

The suing states accused the Obama administration of overstepping its constitutional authority and of sidestepping the normal process for rule-making.

Hanen, in his 123-page decision, said he didn’t need to reach the constitutional issue yet. He addressed the more limited question of whether the policy was invalid because the DHS hadn’t made its new rules public, such as by publishing them in the Federal Register, and hadn’t invited public comment before they took effect.

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