Federal District Judge Andrew S. Hanen has issued a temporary injunction, halting the implementation of the expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) programs. These programs are aimed at providing work permits and legal protection to certain unauthorized immigrants.

The Department of Justice will appeal the temporary injunction, but in the meantime will comply with it. Therefore, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will not begin accepting requests for the expansion of DACA on February 18, 2015 as was originally planned. The DHS will also halt the plan to accept requests under DAPA.

The temporary injunction does not affect the existing DACA program. Further,  the temporary injunction did not include the employment based provisions announced by President Obama as part of his plan to fix the legal immigration system.  This means that the H-4 EAD proposed rule, that is now nearing the end of the regulatory process, is still set to be implemented.