WASHINGTON – (L.A. TIMES) A Federal appeals court dealt a severe and possibly fatal blow Monday to President Obama’s executive actions to allow up to 5 million immigrants living illegally in the United States to stay and obtain work permits.

The decision by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals may have come too late for the administration to appeal to the Supreme Court and win a reversal before Obama leaves office.

In a 2-1 decision, the appeals court sided with Texas and 25 other states that had sued to block Obama’s programs, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, or DAPA, and an extension of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

The two judges ruled that Obama had “no statutory authority” to issue such sweeping orders on immigration because they forced a change in government regulations that did not go through full and proper procedures.

“At its core, this case is about the [administration’s] decision to change the immigration classification of millions of illegal aliens on a class-wide basis,” Judge Jerry Smith said, joined by Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod.

Immigration law “flatly does not permit the reclassification of millions of illegal aliens as lawfully present and thereby make them newly eligible for a host of federal and state benefits, including work authorization,” the court concluded.