President Obama was asked whether he’ll be delaying executive action on immigration until after the mid-term election. He told reporters he was still reviewing options but that he’s going to act “within the legal constraints of my office.”
“[DHS secretary] Jeh Johnson and Eric Holder have begun to provide me some of their proposals and recommendations,” said Obama. “I’ll be reviewing them. My expectation is that fairly soon I’ll be considering what the next steps are.
“What I’m unequivocal about is that we need immigration reform, that my overriding preference is to see Congress act. We had bipartisan action in the Senate. The House Republicans have sat on it for over a year–that has damaged the economy. It has held America back. It is a mistake.
“And in the absence of congressional action, I intend to take action to make sure that we’re putting more resources on the border, that we’re upgrading how we process these cases, and that we find a way to encourage legal immigration and give people some path so they can start paying taxes and pay a fine and learn English and be able to not look over their shoulder but be legal, since they’ve been living here for quite some time.
“So, you know, I suspect that on my flight back, this will be part of my reading, taking a look at some of the specifics that we’ve looked at. And I’ll be making an announcement soon. But I want to be very clear. My intention is, in the absence of — in the absence of action by Congress, I’m going to do what I can do within the legal constraints of my office. Because it’s the right thing to do for the country.”
