But make no mistake, I disagree with this judge’s ruling. Just yesterday, the Department of Justice asked the court for an emergency stay of this misguided decision, and it has already filed a notice of appeal. My administration will fight this ruling with every tool at our disposal, and I have full confidence that these actions will ultimately be upheld.
In the meantime, it’s important to make clear what the Texas court’s ruling does and does not do. While the decision temporarily prevents my administration from accepting individuals’ requests for relief under the new deferred action program announced last November, it does not impact the original 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program offering relief from deportation to young Dreamers. Those who became eligible to seek temporary relief under the 2012 policy can still submit an initial or renewal request. And the majority of the steps I took last year will continue moving forward. For example, immigration agents will continue to refocus our limited enforcement resources on felons, not families.
I am confident that all the steps I’ve taken on my own to fix our broken immigration system will eventually be implemented. But I also continue to believe that these steps are no substitute for congressional action. It was my hope that a new, Republican-led Congress would seek to govern responsibly by supporting commonsense solutions to one of our country’s greatest challenges, just like President Bush and Sen. John McCain tried to nearly a decade ago. Instead, we’ve seen a series of votes to deport Dreamers, young people who are American in every way except on paper. We’ve even heard irresponsible threats to shut down the Department of Homeland Security, the very agency tasked with securing our borders and keeping Americans safe in a time of new threats, for no reason other than partisan disagreement over my actions.
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