President Obama on Friday launched a White House campaign to sell his executive action to protect 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation, poking fun at Republicans who accused him of killing any hope for immigration legislation in the GOP-led House.
“I didn’t dissolve Parliament. That’s not how our system works,” Obama said to laughter at a Las Vegas high school. “I didn’t steal away the various clerks in the House and Senate who manage bills.
“Pass a bill,” he said.
The president Thursday night outlined a plan that calls for the deferral of deportations for roughly 4.1 million undocumented immigrants whose children are American citizens or permanent residents. Parents who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years are eligible for the protections.
Republicans counter that Obama overstepped his executive authority, derailing potential legislation in the new Republican Congress next year.
Obama told the Las Vegas crowd that he would not “sit idly by,” with Republicans are unwilling to commit to a legislative plan.
“Tracking down, rounding up and deporting millions of people is not realistic. It’s not who we are,” Obama said.
“All we’re saying is we aren’t going to deport you and separate you from your kids,” he added.
Still, some immigration-rights advocates contend that the president’s actions didn’t go far enough, leaving millions of undocumented immigrants at risk of deportation.
One such individual interrupted the president’s speech in Las Vegas multiple times on Friday.
“I’ve heard you — this is just a first step,” Obama said, trying to calm the heckler.
Obama also is expanding a program that granted certain Dream Act-eligible immigrants a reprieve from deportation, saying that minors who arrived in the U.S. before 2010 would not face prosecution. Previously, Obama limited the protections to youths who arrived before 2007.
The president on Friday signed two executive orders to create a task force on recent immigrants and visa modernization. The administration says the broader proponents of his immigration plan don’t require an official signing.
Obama insisted legislation would override the executive action that has angered Republicans.
And he sought to convince the public that his actions were legal and merely a matter of prosecutorial discretion.
“What we’re doing is what law enforcement does every day,” he said, explaining that his administration had “limited resources” and would keep the focus on deporting violent criminals.
