President Obama has publicly defended his intention to enact immigration reform by using his executive authority. On Friday the president told congressional leaders that he intended to lift restrictions on some undocumented immigrants, regardless of Republican warnings, and told Face the Nation on CBS on Sunday that he has now waited long enough for Congress to make progress on the issue.
Obama told Face the Nation that he has given John Boehner, the speaker of the House of Representatives, a deadline of the end of the year to implement immigration reform or he will personally take steps to ensure that the system is changed. “Everybody agrees the immigration system’s broken,” Obama notes. “And we’ve been talking about if for years in terms of fixing it.”
Obama says that there needs to be greater efficiency in the system, more secure borders, and a way to give legal status to the millions of undocumented immigrants already living and working in the United States, as there is no possibility of deporting this many people. The president added that should the Republicans create their own bill, he will be happy to sign it into law and forget about taking executive action. Obama points out that without change resources will continue to be misallocated, dangerous immigrants will remain the US and harmless immigrants will continue to be deported, separating families in the process. Obama continues to be under pressure from immigration activists to stop delaying and to take executive action on immigration reform immediately.