President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the “law is on our side and history is on our side” when it comes to immigration, in defiant comments made shortly after his Administration temporarily halted its new immigration policy in response to a court ruling.
“This is not the first time where a lower court judge has blocked something or attempted to block something that ultimately is going to be lawful and I’m confident that it is well within my authority,” Obama said in comments from the Oval Office with Attorney General Eric Holder.
A Texas judge ordered an injunction Monday against the President’s executive actions that would allow millions of undocumented immigrants to stay in the country. The Department of Homeland Security then announced that it would halt plans to begin implementing Obama’s policy.
“We’re not going to disregard this federal court ruling. The law is the law in this country, and we take things a step at a time,” Obama said. “But we are doing the preparatory work because this is a big piece of business.”
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Write to Tessa Berenson at tessa.Rogers@time.com