President Obama announced Wednesday afternoon that he will unveil his unilateral plan for immigration reform to the nation in a primetime address Thursday.
The president stressed that his proposals, reports of which have angered Republicans and constitutionalists, will be within his “lawful” jurisdiction and only complement a legislative solution.
“Everybody agrees that our immigration system is broken. Unfortunately, Washington has allowed the problem to fester for too long,” Obama said in a White House video message. “And so what I’m going to be laying out is the things that I can do with my lawful authority as president to make the system work better, even as I continue to work with Congress and encourage them to get a bipartisan, comprehensive bill that can solve the entire problem.”
Obama will follow his Thursday speech to the nation with a rally at a Las Vegas high school Friday, where he has spoken on immigration reform before.
Senate Democrats immediately voiced their support of the president’s solo act Wednesday, with soon-to-be Minority Leader Harry Reid criticizing House Republicans for failing to act on a Senate-passed comprehensive immigration bill.
Today marks the 510th day that the Republican-led House has refused to address our broken immigration system. pic.twitter.com/wyG6EzBGTK
— Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) November 19, 2014
Because GOP has refused to legislate, the President is taking steps he can to keep families together and enforce the laws. I stand with him.
— Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) November 19, 2014
Other Democrats came to the Senate floor one-by-one to rationalize the president’s action, saying that the House has had its chance, and the only way to stop Obama now is to finally seize it.
“Now, there’s a lot of handwringing going on on the other side of the aisle about the president taking executive action, as he has now announced he intends to do,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said according to a C-SPAN transcript. “Republicans are saying that anything and everything is on the table to stop the president from taking executive action. Well, if the bounds are anything and everything, I have a suggestion — pass our bill.”
Not a chance. House Speaker John Boehner’s spokesperson referred to the president as “Emperor Obama” in a statement to the press Wednesday, a fitting barb considering that Obama has stressed in the past that he can’t simply “wave a magic wand” or act like a monarch to see his initiatives through.
“I am president, I am not king. I can’t do these things just by myself,” Obama said about immigration reform in 2010. “We have a system of government that requires the Congress to work with the executive branch to make it happen. I’m committed to making it happen, but I’ve got to have some partners to do it.”
Boehner’s office highlighted 21 other such times the president said “he couldn’t do what he’s about to do.”
Recent reports about Obama’s planned action have stated it will include “deferred action” for illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children, as well as the parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents. Those affected would number in the millions.
