The White House informed a federal court judge to lift a temporary injunction blocking President Barack Obama's deferred action programs or the administration will file an appeal.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, from Brownsville, Texas, had issued the temporary injunction on the U.S. government from implementing the expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and new Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) programs, which would provide approximately 4.9 million undocumented immigrants to temporarily avoid deportation and receive a work permit in the U.S. The Obama administration denounced the decision and confirmed an appeals process would be underway.

According to the Obama administration, Hanen will have until Monday to lift the temporary injunction. If the injunction remains in place, the Obama administration will continue its appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Hanen issued the temporary injunction on Feb. 16, two days before the expanded DACA rules were to go in effect. His decision is the result of a lawsuit by 26 U.S. states, led by Texas, seeking to block the deferred action programs. According to Hanen, the injunction was granted due to the defendants -- referring to the U.S. federal government -- not complying with the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires the White House to post notice in the Federal Register publication and issue a long notification and comment period prior to the actions taking effect. With the temporary injunction, the government cannot move forward with the deferred action programs.

Hanen's order halts the U.S., agencies, department, officers and select individuals from implementing "any and all aspects or phases" of the DACA expansion or DAPA. He also tells Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson -- whose department manages the three federal immigration agencies including the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which handles the DACA and DAPA application process -- to not move forward with the executive actions until further notice.

As Latin Post reported, then-Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who has since become the state's governor, filed a lawsuit to block Obama's immigration executive actions. Since Abbott became Texas governor, new Attorney General Ken Paxton continued the lawsuit. Twenty-five states have since joined the Texas lawsuit, including Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

"This is not the first time where a lower court judge blocked something or attempted to block something that ultimately was shown to be lawful. And I'm confident that it is well within my authority and position of the executive branch's prosecutorial discretion to execute this law," said Obama on Feb. 17, following Hanen's ruling. "This will help us make our borders safer, will help us go after criminals and those that we don't want in this country, will help people get on the right side of the law and get out of the shadows."

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