President Obama Promises Executive Action on Immigration
Posted on Jul 1, 2014 8:18am PDT
Obama announced yesterday that he would be taking action, by means of executive order, to make fixes to the immigration system. He explained that he preferred permanent action by Congress to administrative action, but that his decision resulted from the House of Representatives refusal to bring an immigration reform bill to a vote. A bipartisan immigration reform bill passed the Senate in June of 2013, but stalled in the House. Last week, Speaker Boehner informed the President that the Republican majority will continue to block a vote on the bill for the rest of the year.
Obama stated that he requested recommendations for executive actions on immigration from DHS head Jeh Johnson and Attorney General Eric Holder by the end of the summer. The announcement comes amid the crisis of unaccompanied children crossing the border in large numbers. During the announcement, the President mentioned the heartbreaking situation of separated families and the fact that a majority of Americans support immigration reform. Stay tuned for updates.