House Speaker John Boehner on Monday warned President Obama over using executive action to reform U.S. immigration policy.
In February, Republicans said they wouldn’t touch immigration until they trusted the president’s administration to enforce the existing laws. In an interview Monday with Fox News, Boehner warned the president to curb his authority.
“That will make it almost impossible to ever do immigration reform because he will spoil the well to the point where no one will trust him by giving him a new law that he will implement of the way the Congress intended,” Boehner said.
The president said last month that he would reform his administration’s deportation policy, and he has previously halted deportations for those who entered the country as young children, those who care for children, and those who haven’t committed crimes. Republicans have critivized him for the moves, saying he’s circumventing Congress.
The comments come as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush—who many believe is mulling a 2016 run—said that illegal immigration isn’t always just about breaking a law, that it’s often “an act of love.” On Fox News, Boehner said he understood Bush’s argument but felt that “we’re also a nation of laws.” Boehner’s warning is the latest attack on the president’s use of executive authority. Though as of last year, the president had signed fewer executive orders than any his predecessors in the last 100 years, Republicans have skewered him saying he’s circumventing the legislative process.
Jane Timm Recommended
