A federal judge on Monday was asked by the U S government to make a temporary lift on President Obama’s action to shield hundreds and thousands of immigrants from getting deported back to their country of origin. The stay by the Justice Department was filed in a court in the state of Texas.

It was only last week that the federal judge who belonged to Texas issued a preliminary injunction, forcibly halting the action by President Obama. The President is seeking to keep away from deportation around 5 million people who are in the United States illegally. Most states in the country have argued that the executive action is unconstitutional and would also increase administrative expenses in healthcare, education and law enforcement.

The Texan federal judge is being asked to put his ruling on hold while the decision is being appealed by the U S government. If the stay gets granted the immigration action introduced by President Obama would be allowed to go forward while the lawsuit proceedings get underway in the courts.

You may recall that the executive action was announced by Obama in the month of November, who had then stated that the lack of Congress action had forced him to make sweeping changes on his own.