President Obama conceded Tuesday that the next occupant of the White House could roll back his executive action to protect up to 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation, but he said a future president would pay a political price for doing so.
“It’s true that a future administration might try to reverse some of our polices,” Obama said at an event in Nashville, Tenn., to promote his immigration plan.
However, he told the crowd of immigration advocates that such a development is “not likely politically” and possibly “damaging” to millions of immigrants granted reprieves from deportation.
Obama is banking that even if Congress does not unite behind immigration reform legislation, the next president will balk at the idea of undoing benefits for millions of people and alienating the Latino community.
A Republican president, in particular, would face pressure from the party faithful to negate Obama’s executive action. And the issue will play a major role in the 2016 GOP presidential primaries.
Obama chose to give his latest immigration speech in Nashville, a city where the Latino population has doubled in the past decade.
Like other immigration events, though, Obama faced questions about why he didn’t do more for the seven million illegal immigrants not covered by his executive action.
When asked why his unilateral action didn’t apply to the parents of so-called Dreamers, the young illegal immigrants given exemptions from deportation, the president said his “legal authority” limited the scope of the plan.
