Last night President Obama addressed the nation to outline his executive order overhauling U.S. immigration policy. As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, nearly all congressional Republicans oppose the order.
Republicans in Washington have levied a variety of threats toward the president including a government shutdown and even impeachment. They say if the president bypasses Congress on immigration reform it’ll prevent a more sweeping and permanent solution to the issue. Republicans also say the move exceeds the president’s authority.
Jeff Flake is one of Arizona’s Republican U.S. Senators.
“It’s difficult legislation to do, believe me. But, it needs to be done by Congress and this type of executive action just makes it far more difficult. I’m still going to try to pass legislation. I think we should have done it before. We need to do it now, but I can tell you, it’s going to be far more difficult.”
President Obama’s executive order will make up to 5 million undocumented immigrants eligible for work permits, safeguarding them from deportation. It’ll also halt deportations of people living in the country illegally whose children are U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
But the order could be reversed by a future president, and doesn’t include a path to permanent citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Last year, the Democratically controlled Senate passed a bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill. But, the Republican-dominated House failed to hold a vote.
