Obama announces action on sweeping immigration reform

WASHINGTON – US President Obama has announced wide-spread immigration reform. Promising that he will keep his promise of six years ago, President Obama announced sweeping reforms that will shift the ground on immigration.

President Obama imposed the most sweeping immigration reform in a generation on Thursday, easing the threat of deportation for about 4.7 million undocumented immigrants and setting up a clash with Republicans.

In a White House speech, Obama rejected Republican critics who say his decision to bypass Congress and take executive action is tantamount to amnesty for illegal immigrants and urged them to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has blocked.

“When I took office, I committed to fixing this broken immigration system,” Obama said. “Tonight I’m announcing those actions.”

Republicans pounced quickly, charging Obama had overstepped his constitutional power a year after declaring he did not have the authority to act on his own.

House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner is accusing President Barack Obama of overstepping his constitutional power in imposing the most sweeping immigation reform in a generation.

“Instead of working together to fix our broken immigration system, the president says he’s acting on his own,” Boehner said in a YouTube video. “That’s just not how our democracy works. The president has said before that ‘he’s not king’ and he’s ‘not an emperor,’ but he sure is acting like one.”

In excerpts of speech, Obama rejected Republican critics who say his actions are tantamount to amnesty for illegal immigrants and urged them to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation.

The real amnesty, he said, was “Leaving this broken system the way it is. Mass amnesty would be unfair. Mass deportation would be both impossible and contrary to our character.”

VIDEO by Reuters