House Speaker John Boehner on Friday said that President Obama’s unilateral move to alter U.S. immigration law has sabotaged prospects for congressional action on comprehensive reform, and vowed that Republicans would forcefully confront the White House.
Obama announced Thursday evening that he would sign an executive order to defer deportations for roughly 4.1 million undocumented immigrants whose children are American citizens or permanent residents. Under the president’s plan, this community of illegal immigrants is eligible for work permits as long as they have lived in the U.S. for at least five years. Immigration hawks refer to the move as “executive amnesty.”
Boehner, of Ohio, and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and virtually every member in their respective caucuses argue that this and other actions Obama announced are in violation of his constitutional powers. They have yet to reveal how they plan to respond to what they describe as lawlessness befitting a king or an emperor, but insist congressional action to try and roll it back is imminent.
“Our nation’s immigration system is broken. I think we need to work together to fix it. But fixing it starts with a commitment to working through the democratic process and enforcing the laws that the president is sworn faithfully to execute,” Boehner told reporters during a brief news conference. “All year long I’ve warned the president that by taking unilateral action on matters such as his heathcare law, or by threatening action repeatedly on immigration, he was making it impossible to build the trust necessary to work together.”
“As I’ve warned the president,” Boehner continued, “You can’t ask the elected representatives of the people to trust you to enforce the law if you’re constantly demonstrating that you can’t be trusted to enforce the law. The president never listens. And, with this action he’s refused to listen to the American people.”
Obama was scheduled later Friday to deliver a speech in Las Vegas further outlining his plans and the rationale behind his decision to act absent congressional action. Responding to Republican criticism that his actions violated the Constitution, Obama said Thursday that they could supersede his executive order by passing immigration reform legislation.
“To those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer: Pass a bill,” he said.
