President Obama slammed Republicans Tuesday on immigration reform — saying he will fight “any attempt” to turn back progress he has helped implement regarding the issue.
Referring to a bill passed by the Senate in 2014, Obama wonders why a GOP-controlled House “kept that bipartisan bill from reaching my desk,” in a new op-ed for The Hill.
“And late last year, in the face of congressional Republicans’ continued refusal to act, I took new common-sense steps within my authority to fix as much of our broken immigration system as possible,” Obama writes, referring to the executive action he announced last fall shielding millions of illegal immigrants from deportation.
However, because of Republicans in Congress, the steps taken by the president have been questionably stalled, he wrote — specifically in Texas in which a court decision recently attempted to block Obama’s immigration action.
“Just yesterday, the Department of Justice asked the court for an emergency stay of this misguided decision, and it has already filed a notice of appeal,” he wrote.
Obama also called the Republicans “irresponsible” for threatening to shut down the Department of Homeland Security for disagreement over his immigration actions.
“It’s time to end the era of manufactured crises, put politics aside and focus on doing what’s best for America,” Obama concluded, adding that though he will “fight any attempt to turn back the progress we’ve made,” he is willing to “work with anyone who wants to build on the improvements we’ve put in place.”
