The Department of Justice will file papers asking a federal judge for permission to restart President Obama's executive amnesty Monday.
"The Department of Justice has made a decision to file a stay in this case," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Friday. "I would anticipate that they will file documents at the district court level on Monday at the latest."
This past monday, U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen issued a temporary injunction forbidding the Obama administration from implementing Obama's Deferred Action for Parental Accountability program. Initial applications for an expansion of Obama's earlier Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was set to begin Wednesday. Those applications, which would give program beneficiaries work permits, Social Security numbers, and drivers licenses, are no longer being accepted as planned.
The DAPA program, which gave the same set of benefits to the parents of U.S. citizens, was not set to start taking applications till May at the earliest. Now, even if everything goes Obama's way, the program will not get started until July or August at the earliest.
To restart Obama's amnesty, DOJ must first file their motion for a stay of Hanen's injunction with Hanen who must then deny the motion before the DOJ can then appeal that decision to the 5th Circuit. A three judge panel of 5th Circuit judges will then hear the DOJ's appeal to end Hanen's injunction of Obama's amnesty program.
Obama faces an uphill climb defending his program since almost two-thirds of all the judges in the 5th Circuit were appointed by Republican presidents (15 of 23). That means there is only a 25 percent chance Obama would get the 2-to-1 majority Democrat judge panel he would need to overturn Hanen's injunction.
The decision to seek a stay is a big risk for Obama since losing his motion to restart his amnesty program would only further legitimize Judge Hanen's original injunction.