House Speaker Paul Ryan made it crystal clear Wednesday that the Republican House will not take up major immigration legislation as long as President Obama is in office.
“And the reason is simple: The American people can’t trust him to uphold the law,” Ryan wrote in a short op-ed in USA Today.
Ryan has made it immediately clear since becoming House speaker that the GOP doesn’t trust Obama on immigration. Last week, Ryan said it would be “ridiculous” to consider an immigration bill.
But his decision to put that sentiment in print in a nationwide newspaper will likely chill his relationship with the White House somewhat.
“He has tried to go around Congress by ordering his administration to create a new legal status for undocumented immigrants,” Ryan wrote of Obama.
“Even a federal district court says he has overstepped his bounds,” Ryan wrote. “The first principle of any immigration reform has to be securing our border and enforcing the laws already on the books. But that is the very principle the president has violated.”
Ryan said Americans have “every right to be skeptical” that the government would keep any promise to boost border enforcement at this point. And while there are historical reasons not to trust the government in general, Ryan said Obama made things much worse.
“Instead of working to build trust, he has destroyed it,” Ryan wrote. “Last November, after his party lost control of the Senate, the president decided to circumvent the legislative process by unilaterally granting legal status to 5 million people.”
“He has already demonstrated he is not serious about enforcing the law,” he added. “Passing comprehensive reform during his presidency would merely render it meaningless.”
