WASHINGTON — Just one day before undocumented immigrants were set to begin applying for work permits and legal protections, the Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it would delay carrying out President Obama’s executive actions on immigration, saying a federal judge’s last-minute ruling had tied the White House’s hands.
Jeh C. Johnson, the Homeland Security secretary, vowed to appeal the court ruling, which said that the president had not followed proper legal procedures in instituting his program. But Mr. Johnson said the department would comply with it by suspending plans to begin accepting applications from an expanded group of illegal immigrants on Wednesday.
“The Department of Justice, legal scholars, immigration experts and even other courts have said that our actions are well within our legal authority,” Mr. Johnson said in a statement. “Our actions will also benefit the economy and promote law enforcement. We fully expect to ultimately prevail in the courts.”
Mr. Johnson said the department would be “fully prepared” to carry out the president’s orders when that happens. The executive orders would extend temporary work permits to as many as five million people and protect them from the threat of deportation.
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”My objection to the D.H.S. funding is I don’t want to do anything that gives the president the ability to fund executive amnesty,” he said. “If a court issues an injunction, then I think it would be appropriate for us to consider the possibility of funding appropriations during the pendency of the injunction.”
But other conservative members disagreed. Representative Paul Gosar, Republican of Arizona, said that he did not trust the administration to enforce the existing law — and that he would still support the House’s legislative solution.
”Tell me why I should trust this president and attorney general to uphold the rule of law. Absolutely not,” Mr. Gosar said. “I want to make sure that there is no way that he can actually get around from A to Z in embracing what he’s done.”
And Representative Tim Huelskamp, Republican of Kansas, similarly said that any court ruling would simply allow Republicans to further commit to their existing strategy. “I think it’s a great opportunity for the Senate Democrats to actually allow our bill to move forward,” he said. “There should be no concerns for them if the court is saying this is not going to be implemented.”
