Paul Ryan, the new speaker of the House Representatives, has ruled out collaborating with President Obama with regard to creating a new system for immigration in the United States. Ryan says the president cannot be trusted and that it would be “a ridiculous notion” to try to work together to develop legislation.
Republicans have been battling against the unilateral actions taken by the president via his executive authority to try to protect millions of undocumented immigrants from the threat of deportation without having to pass legislation through Congress. The executive orders were announced a year ago this month, but legal action has seen them come to a standstill in the courts. Obama’s actions were largely aimed at the 4.4 million undocumented immigrants who have children who are permanent residents or even possess US citizenship.
The issue of immigration has caused a rift between the Republican Party, with many members taking a hard line on illegal immigration, and the Hispanic community, with the great majority of the approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living and working in the United States being Hispanic. Ryan says he has no intention of addressing immigration reform until Obama leaves the White House in January 2017.
“I think it would be a ridiculous notion to try and work on an issue like this with a president we simply cannot trust on this issue,” Ryan told Face the Nation on CBS. “He tried to go it alone, circumventing the legislative process with his executive orders, so that is not in the cards.”
Ryan’s comments were called “laughable” by Pablo Manriquez from the Democratic National Committee.