--- title: Barack Obama Says Law Is on His Side on Immigration description: But plans have been put on hold for now canonical: https://time.com/3712636/obama-immigration-executive-action/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-17T22:49:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:21.569Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Says the Law Is on His Side on Immigration og:description: But plans have been put on hold for now. og:url: https://time.com/3712636/obama-immigration-executive-action/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51456a64d0211f34/69877fad428a9e5b91cc72ed/463710316.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Obama Immigration og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Says the Law Is on His Side on Immigration twitter:description: But plans have been put on hold for now. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51456a64d0211f34/69877fad428a9e5b91cc72ed/463710316.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Says the Law Is on His Side on Immigration ## Video: Obama Speaks On Immigration from Nevada [Watch (HLS stream): Obama Speaks On Immigration from Nevada](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/O1g5faUR.m3u8) (0:49)  _Published 2014-11-21. Obama Speaks On Immigration from Nevada_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 17, 2015 10:49 PM UTC  President Obama listens to a reporter's question in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 17, 2015 President Obama listens to a reporter's question in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 17, 2015Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Feb 17, 2015 10:49 PM UTC 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](http://time.com/3712580/immigration-ruling-anger/) [in response to a court ruling](http://time.com/3711551/texas-judge-obama-immigration-executive-action-injunction-dapa/). “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](http://time.com/3711551/texas-judge-obama-immigration-executive-action-injunction-dapa/) 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](http://time.com/3712244/homeland-security-deferred-deportation/) 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.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3712636/obama-immigration-executive-action/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3712636/obama-immigration-executive-action/"},"headline":"Obama Says the Law Is on His Side on Immigration","datePublished":"2015-02-17T22:49:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:21.569Z","description":"But plans have been put on hold for now","url":"https://time.com/3712636/obama-immigration-executive-action/","keywords":["Immigration"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51456a64d0211f34/69877fad428a9e5b91cc72ed/463710316.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51456a64d0211f34/69877fad428a9e5b91cc72ed/463710316.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Obama Immigration","caption":"Obama Immigration","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/immigration/","name":"Immigration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3712636/obama-immigration-executive-action/","name":"Obama Says the Law Is on His Side on Immigration"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Obama Speaks On Immigration from Nevada","description":"Obama Speaks On Immigration from Nevada","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/O1g5faUR/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-11-21T22:34:59.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/O1g5faUR.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3712636/obama-immigration-executive-action/","duration":"PT49S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3712636/obama-immigration-executive-action/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```