White House Will Seek Stay Of Judge's Ruling Against Immigration Action

The White House will ask a court to allow President Obama's executive actions to take effect, while a case challenging them wends its way through the courts.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the Justice Department has decided to seek a stay and will file that request by Monday.

If you remember, a U.S. District Court judge from Texas ruled that Obama had overstepped his authority when he ordered the delay in deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants.

Earnest said seeking a stay is "separate and apart from our intent to pursue an appeal."

He went on: "We will seek that appeal, because we believe that when you evaluate the legal merits of the arguments, there is a solid legal foundation for the president to take the steps that he announced late last year to reform our broken immigration system, that's consistent with the way that previous presidents, over the course of several decades, have used their executive authority."

The Department of Homeland Security has already announced that the Texas court's decision means it will not take applications for deferred action.

Earnest said that will still be the case, unless a court decides to issue a stay.