Immigration News: Barack Obama To Use Executive Power On Reform

In a long-awaited announcement, U.S. President Barack Obama said yesterday that he is planning on taking executive action to resolve the issue announcement of immigration reform. After considering the possibility of a compromise on immigration reform in Congress 'dead,' the President said he was left with no other option than to take executive action on the matter. He blamed the Republican majority in the House of Representatives for its paralysis on immigration.

Obama's statement came after Republican John Boehner, speaker of the House, reported last week that the immigration legislature would not be voted on this year, despite reforms having passed last year by the Democratic majority in the Senate. "The failure of House Republicans to pass a darn bill is bad for our security, it's bad for our economy, and it's bad for our future," Obama said of House Republicans during a statement Monday afternoon in the Rose Garden. “America cannot wait forever for them to act. That's why, today, I'm beginning a new effort to fix as much of our broken immigration system as I can on my own."

"If Congress does not do its job, at least we can do ours," he said. The speech highlighted the problems facing the president. The combative speech highlighted the political problems facing the president: on the one hand, increasing pressure from Hispanics and pro-immigration groups that were part of his electoral coalition but are growing increasingly impatient, and on the other, the reluctance of Republicans to pass a law because it could be seen as a victory for the Democrats.

Obama did not say what measures he would take to implement the changes. Administrative measures could range from simply instructing law enforcement agencies to reorient their priorities for deportations to facilitating procedures for some migrant groups. Boehner attacked the President for taking matters into his own hands: "It is sad and disappointing that — faced with this challenge — President Obama won't work with us, but is instead intent on going it alone with executive orders that can't and won't fix these problems,” he said in a statement.