A federal judge in Texas has rescued congressional Republicans from a politically costly showdown with President Barack Obama over funding for the Homeland Security Department, which runs out Feb. 27, and his executive order protecting up to 5 million unauthorized immigrants from deportation.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen ruled this week that Obama’s order is unconstitutional, which means the program will be halted while the case works its way through appeals. Hanen’s decision gives congressional Republicans the cover they need to back away from their threat to withhold Homeland Security funding, which was becoming a lose-lose proposition.

Threatening to block Homeland Security funding doesn’t make a lot of sense to begin with. The true target of Republicans’ ire is the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency, which was poised to begin implementing Obama’s immigration orders before Monday’s court ruling. The agency’s funding comes from user fees, and it would have continued operating with or without congressional action.

Another reason the funding threat doesn’t make sense is that Homeland Security operations that Republicans do favor, such as the E-Verify identity-verification program — which makes it easier for employers to screen out unauthorized immigrants applying for jobs — would be shut down by the cuts. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says the department’s long-term planning and investment in key technology, such as video surveillance systems to catch drug smugglers and illegal border crossers, would have to be postponed if the $41.2 billion budget isn’t approved. Some terrorist-monitoring systems also would be impaired.

The House has approved a funding bill for Homeland Security, but it contains a poison pill reversing Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. No reversal, no funding, says Speaker John Boehner.

Even Senate Republicans are urging the GOP-led House to rethink its bill because it can’t survive a Democratic filibuster. Besides, Obama has pledged to veto it.

Because so much of Homeland Security’s functions are regarded as essential to national security, an estimated 200,000 employees, or about 85 percent of the department’s workforce, would be exempt from furlough even if Congress lets the Feb. 27 deadline pass without action. Essential functions include the Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard and most functions of customs and border enforcement.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona suggests the entire funding threat opens the GOP to ridicule now that Republicans control both houses. “The American people did not give us (a) majority to have a fight between House and Senate Republicans,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press. “They want things done. You cannot cut funding from the Department of Homeland Security.”

In a new CNN poll, 53 percent of respondents said they would blame the GOP if the Department of Homeland Security shuts down, while a third would blame Obama. No matter how this plays out, denying the agency’s funding isn’t the answer.