After Judge’s Ruling, Obama Delays Immigration Actions

Jeh C. Johnson, the Homeland Security secretary, on Feb. 2. Mr. Johnson vowed to appeal the court ruling, which said that the president had not followed proper legal procedures in instituting his program.CreditJabin Botsford/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Just one day before undocumented immigrants were set to begin applying for work permits and legal protections, the administration announced on Tuesday that it would delay carrying out President Obama’s executive actions on immigration, saying a federal judge’s last-minute ruling had tied the White House’s hands.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, on Feb 11. In a statement, he called on Senate Democrats to end their filibuster of Department of Homeland Security funding.CreditJabin Botsford/The New York Times

Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the Senate’s No. 3 Democrat, said court action should free Republicans of their political obligation to fight over Homeland Security funding.

“It’s perfectly appropriate to take this issue to court, but it is completely unacceptable for Republicans to hold up funding for the Department of Homeland Security while the case wends its way through the legal system,” he said after the judge’s ruling.

But even as Republicans issued statements vowing to continue the fight, lawmakers and aides scrambled to game out the longer-term implications of the court ruling for the political fight to fund the Homeland Security agency, which will run out of money on Feb. 27.

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