Oklahoma's attorney general is praising a ruling by a federal judge in South Texas who has temporarily blocked President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration.
Attorney General Scott Pruitt said in a statement Tuesday the judge's decision will help undo what he called "unlawful actions" on immigration by the president.
“The lawsuit brought by Oklahoma and other states seeks to hold the executive branch accountable to faithfully execute the laws passed by the legislative branch," Pruitt said. "The president cannot rewrite our nation’s immigration laws simply because Congress hasn’t acted in a manner with which he agrees."
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen's decision late Monday puts on hold Obama's orders that could spare from deportation as many as 5 million people who are in the U.S. illegally.
Oklahoma is among a coalition of states— including Texas— that argue Obama has violated a provision of the U.S. Constitution that limits the scope of presidential power.
U.S. Sen. James Lankford called the judge's decision a "victory for the rule of law."
Senior Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe said the judge confirmed what the rest of the nation already knew - that the president overstepped his legal authority to grant amnesty to roughly 5 million illegal immigrants.
"It is my hope that as this case makes its way through the courts, the judicial system will see these illegal actions for what they are, an unconstitutional executive overreach that should not be allowed to stand," Inhofe said in a statement. "In the mean time, I urge my colleagues across the aisle to end their filibuster in the Senate and allow for an open amendment process on a House-passed bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security."
But the White House is defending the executive orders issued in November as within the president's legal authority.
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