Speech #1130127791

Eighteen months passed. and the President said: I am sorry. I have to do something. If you are going to do nothing in the House of Representatives when it comes to immigration. I must do something as President. He went into an effortI know because we spokeof research to determine what previous Presidents had done when it came to immigration by Executive action. He started off somewhat skeptical. and he said as much publicly. as to the limits of what he could do. He said: I need to carefully research this. and he did. He found that some 11 Presidents have engaged in Executive action on immigration. and so he set out to do the same. to carefully construct Executive action to deal with our broken immigration system. all the while knowing the Republicans in the House of Representatives. and many here in the Senate. were going to do nothing when it came to immigration. He issued his Executive action a few weeks ago. What did it say? It said: If you have been in the United States at least 5 years and come forward and register with this government by giving us your name. your address. and vital information. we will then submit you to an extensive criminal background check to determine whether you have done anything while in the United States or before that makes you ineligible to stay. If you fail that initial criminal review. you are goneno questions asked. But if you pass it and are prepared to register with this government and pay your fair share of taxes for working in the United States. you will be given a temporary work permit that must be renewed. as we review every several years whether you are still eligible to stay. That is the Executive action that has driven the Republicans to distraction. The notion is that this President is going to try to fix a broken immigration system by at least guaranteeing that those who are here working legally have no criminal background problems and are paying their fair share of taxes. They are so distraught over this that they have come up with a strategy that is incredible. The Republican Party. which has insisted time and time again that border enforcement is their highest priority. havein protest to this Executive action by the Presidentdecided to do two things. First. they passed a spending bill in the House of Representatives which funded all of the Federal Government with a budget for the next year except for one agency. Which agency would that have been? It turned out to be the Department of Homeland Security. which is responsible for border enforcement. The party that is dedicated to border enforcement as the starting point for an immigration discussion starts off by tying the hands of the agency responsible for border enforcement when it comes to their budget. Why would you do that? If you truly want the border enforced and you want people there doing their job. why would you limit their resources?