WASHINGTON — The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday in favor of 26 states challenging President Obama’s executive action on immigration.

Two judges on the three-judge panel ruled that the executive action, which would grant an estimated 4.7 million undocumented immigrants relief from deportation, should stay on hold while the states work to overturn it.

The case has become the focal point of Obama’s efforts to change U.S. immigration policy.

Seeing no progress on legislative reform in Congress, Obama announced in November he would take executive action to help immigrants. He has since received blowback from Republicans who say the program grants amnesty and is burdensome.

The 5th Circuit is still due to rule on whether the Obama administration can appeal the block to the executive order, which it is expected to do in the coming months.

Michigan is one of 26 states that are objecting Obama’s measure. The state’s attorney general Bill Schuette has joined the lawsuit challenging the president’s executive order. 

“The President’s unilateral executive order on immigration, bypassing Congress, is constitutionally flawed,” Schuette said in a statement last year.