With a crisis growing on the Southern border as thousands of children continue streaming into the country, there is growing angst on all sides of the immigration issue. Border hawks see this as undeniable truth that our Southern border remains insecure and porous. On the other hand, those in the camp supporting a “pathway to citizenship,” or some form of amnesty, see this as a way to justify the need for such legislation or, perhaps, executive action on the part of the Obama administration.
Report from The Hill:
The Obama administration is “not bluffing” in its intent to take executive action on immigration policy if House Republicans don’t act soon, top Democratic leaders warned Thursday.
President Obama has delayed any potential changes to his deportation policy to allow House GOP leaders time to bring legislation to the floor this summer. But if the Republicans don’t act in July, the Democrats say, unilateral changes by Obama are inevitable.
“We’re at the end of the line,” Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said Thursday during a press briefing in the Capitol. “We’re not bluffing by setting a legislative deadline for them to act.
“Their first job is to govern,” Menendez added, “and in the absence of governing, then you see executive actions.”
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) piled on. Noting that a year has passed since the Senate passed a sweeping immigration reform bill with broad bipartisan support, he urged House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to bring a similar bill to the floor.
“I don’t know how much more time he thinks he needs, but I hope that Speaker Boehner will speak up today,” Durbin said. “And if he does not, the president will borrow the power that is needed to solve the problems of immigration.”
The remarks come a day after Boehner announced his intent to push legislation allowing the House to sue Obama for what the Republicans say is a habitual inclination to overstep his constitutional authority.
Some of the stories are pretty stunning with border patrol setting up huge holding areas for thousands of children to stay for weeks before getting sorted out. Some countries in Central America have been advertising that if children reach the United States, they’ll be granted amnesty.
More from the Washington Times:
Senators told President Obama on Thursday that he must personally step up and make clear illegal immigrant children surging across the border will be quickly sent home, as the administration faces growing bipartisan pressure to get a better handle on the situation playing out in Texas.
Led by Sens. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican, and Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, more than three-dozen senators signed a letter saying Mr. Obama needs to “personally make clear” that those jumping the border will not get special treatment.
The senators, who covered the ideological and geographic spectrum, also demanded Mr. Obama tell the leaders of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala they have a duty to dispel rumors that their citizens can gain legalization if they get to the U.S.
To see Diane Feinstein signing on with Jeff Flake in urging the President to personally involve himself to end this stream of children is quite something. There is bipartisan concern over the safety of these children often risking life and limb jumping on trains, crossing rivers, or being at the mercy of “guides” to transport them into the United States.
At the end of the day, what does this setup for the 2014 midterm elections? There are so many issues on the front burner right now including the economy and foreign policy. Where does immigration fit?
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