Obama: 'There Are Certain Things I Cannot Do' Unilaterally on Immigration
Article publisher:
Breitbart
Article date:
17 November 2014
Article category:
National News
Medium
Article Body:
On Sunday, President Barack Obama conceded that there are some things he "cannot do" unilaterally on immigration.
At a G20 press conference in Australia, Obama was asked why in years past he has said he could not act as an "emperor" or a "king" to "just do things by myself" on immigration. He was also asked what has changed since then and what, if any, his limits were.
Obama, who has previously said that his "job is to execute laws that have passed," claimed that his position actually has not changed. Obama spun that pro-amnesty advocates in the past were asking him to enact the Senate's "Gang of Eight" amnesty bill through executive action.
"Getting a comprehensive deal of the sort that is in the Senate legislation, for example, does extend beyond my legal authorities," Obama conceded before adding that "there are certain things I cannot do" on immigration and "there are certain limits to what falls within the realm of prosecutorial discretion in terms of how we apply existing immigration laws."
Obama, when asked if he has received legal advice about his limits, said that he did, but he would not reveal what government lawyers have told him he could not legally do alone on immigration. Obama said he would reveal what his limits are "when I make the announcement" on executive amnesty.
In 2013, a pro-amnesty heckler in San Francisco interrupted Obama's speech and screamed that Obama had the "power to stop all deportations." Obama replied by saying, "Actually, I don't."
"The easy way out is to try to yell and pretend like I can do something by violating our laws," Obama said then. "If in fact I could solve all these problems without passing laws in Congress, I would do so."
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus and pro-amnesty advocates have asked Obama to enact many of the provisions of the Senate's amnesty bill via executive action, with some of the more extreme voices on the left demanding that Obama give temporary amnesty to everyone who would have qualified under the Senate's Gang of Eight bill, which would encompass nearly every illegal immigrant in the country.
Numerous reports have indicated that Obama will unilaterally grant amnesty and temporary work permits to as many as five million illegal immigrants, including the parents of DREAMers, as early as next week before Congress goes home for the Thanksgiving recess. Conservatives like Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) are trying to pressure Congress to prohibit the White House from using federal funds to enact his executive amnesty...
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